It Is What It Is
by IrishSunrise
Summary: HeYa get a little carried away at a party and Heather decides to go with the flow.
1. Chapter 1

"Shot, shot, shot, shot, shot!" Heather and her fellow Glee cast members urged Naya on as the birthday girl threw back her third shot of Smirnoff and slapped the shot glass back down on the kitchen island, grimacing with disgust.

"Ugh, I don't know how you can stand that taste! Follow it up, girlfriend," Amber said, pushing a cup of V8 Splash at Naya, who quickly took a couple sips to wash down the taste.

"Nay-Nay's got a throat of steel!" Kevin said loudly, gripping Naya's arm as she took a wobbly step backward into Heather.

"Or she's just to drunk to care," Chris said, more logically.

"Ohhhhkay, I think you've had enough for now, what was that, your sixth drink tonight? Seventh? Hundredth?" Heather said with a grin, wrapping one arm securely around Naya's slim waist and walking her toward the living room.

"Aow know," Naya mumbled against Heather's neck, giggling. "They jussst kep' gimme drinks. Ssso I _had _to drink them!"

"Did they now? What were they thinking?" Heather asked her, playing along. She'd had a few drinks herself and was feeling quite tipsy.

"But isss my birdday!" Naya said happily, collapsing on the floor and pulling Heather down with her. "And you're not nearly 's drunk enough!"

"Yeah Hemo, come get another _drank_!" Kevin shouted from the kitchen.

"I made us all a special one!" a very giddy Dianna said, pouring the last of a doubleshot into one of three glasses in front of her. She handed one to Lea and one to Heather. "Bottoms up, ladies!"

Heather didn't care what was in it; she just threw her head back and swallowed the liquid in three burning gulps.

"Damn girl, that was like straight vodka," Lea coughed out, and Dianna just giggled and hugged Lea against her side.

Heather put her glass on the island and joined the rest of her friends making their way back to the living room, some with drinks in their hands.

"Let's party!" Lea shouted, Rachel-esque, and Dianna gave her a playful shove toward the couch.

"Spin the bottle, anyone?" Mark asked, completing the scene with his now-empty beer bottle.

"Okay, but I'm not making out with you!" Cory shouted at him, his cheeks red, and everyone rolled their eyes, laughing.

Heather half-fell, half sat next to Naya, who was lying on her back on the floor. Naya rolled onto one shoulder, put one hand dizzily on the back of Heather's neck and pulled her on top of her, laughing and wrapping her arms around the blond girl's strong body. Heather hugged her back before adjusting herself so her head was lying against Naya's chest, just below her chin. She lay there happily for a minute, feeling Naya's heart pound, before Naya put one hand under chin, forcing her to look into her face.

"I'd make out with _you," _ Naya whispered into Heather's ear.

Heather felt a swoop in her stomach as Naya's words tickled her ear warmly. She looked into her eyes and saw them swimming a bit, although brown eyes stayed mostly focused on baby blues. For a moment Heather wondered if she was serious.

Heather smiled and touched a soft hand briefly to the drunk girl's warm cheek. "Okay hon, time to sit up and play."

Naya sat up in time to see Jenna's spin land on Mark. The two smiled, and Mark leaned in to peck Jenna on the lips. "I guess that was better than Cory," he said, and Jenna smacked the back of his head, laughing.

"Your spin, Mark," Lea pointed out, and Mark spun the bottle quickly. Heather watched it move just past her own legs and land on Naya.

"Oooohhhhh, birthday girl!" everyone screeched, and Naya laughed. Mark smiled and, seeing that Naya wasn't in much shape to come to him, he walked over to her.

Heather's heart pounded as Mark leaned in and placed his mouth on Naya's soft, plump lips. She couldn't take her eyes off Naya, noting how her eyes closed even before Mark made contact. She was beautiful. A tingling sensation shot through Heather's body.

"All right, no taking advantage of Miss Drunk-off-her-ass, here!" she said loudly, pushing Mark away and shaking a finger at him. Naya laughed and tipped into Heather, grasping Heather's wrist.

"Your spin, Naya!" Dianna said, prodding Naya's shoulder.

Heather's skin burned where Naya's hand had been, and as she watched the bottle spin dizzily, she knew the drink Dianna had made her was really starting to kick in. She willed it to land on herself, knew it would, could feel it as it slowed to a stop….right…at….her feet.

"All _right_! Some off-screen Brittana action!" Kevin said, clapping his hands once and rocking back with delight. "That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!"

Excitement flooded through Heather's body, followed almost immediately by nerves as Naya's smiling face came towards hers, her eyes staring into Heather's. This was so much better than their scene in Brittany's bedroom.

Heather closed her eyes and brought a hand up to Naya's face as soft, smiling lips closed on Heather's.

Heather didn't move away, just kept her lips pressed against Naya's, wanting the kiss to last, knowing it was going to end soon…but just when she thought Naya was going to pull away, the Latina parted her lips to kiss Heather more deeply, arching her back to get closer to her blond friend.

Heather was vaguely aware of everyone watching, but she just didn't care. All she cared about was this kiss and making it last. Her lips opened against Naya's, and for a brief, glorious second she felt a wet tongue graze her bottom lip. Naya's hand moved to the back of Heather's head, pulling her closer to deepen the kiss. Heather thought she heard a tiny moan escape Naya's mouth, and the sudden sound jolted Heather back to reality.

She broke the kiss, and suddenly she was aware of all the noise in the room – the muted hoots and cat calls returned to her ears full volume as she pulled away from Naya, a silly smile on her lips, playing along with her cast mates to disguise the sudden terrified, anxious weight that had flooded her stomach and made her chest heave.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Sorry for the huge delay; school gets in the way sometimes (first major paper of the semester coming up soon…yayy). Anyway, I've got my thoughts sorted out now about where I want this story to go, so updates should come more quickly from now on. Thanks for the reviews! This is my first story, so I'm a little nervous about it – it's wonderfully encouraging to get feedback! Enjoy!

Chapter 2

Two hours later, the party was winding down – everyone had surpassed the peak of drunkenness and begun to get sleepy. Kevin, Jenna, and Chris were flopped on the couch staring at the television, Jenna's eyes lazily closing every now and then. Lea, Dianna, Amber, Cory, and Mark were slumped over the table, chatting quietly. Dianna rested her chin on her hands and sighed contentedly while Lea played with the slight curls at the ends of her hair.

Heather was lying on her stomach in front of the television, dull images flickering over her fair face. She was dozing with one arm flung over Naya's stomach. Naya hummed softly, her eyes closed, her index finger gently tracing circles on the soft skin of Heather's arm.

Heather woke up when she heard Cory and Mark start heading for the door, but she didn't open her eyes, not wanting to lose contact with the warm body lying next to her.

"Bye Naya, bye Heather," the boys called across the room.

"Shhhh," Naya whispered loudly, craning her neck to look at the boys sideways and pointing a finger at Heather. "This one's conked out."

"Oh, oops." The guys shrugged their shoulders guiltily. "Happy birthday! See you tomorrow night!" they whispered, taking Naya's cue and lowering their voices before slipping out the door. The group on the couch was getting unsteadily to their feet as well, yawning and tiptoeing around the two on the floor. Naya waved and smiled at them, whispered "Be safe!" and watched them walk out.

Dianna approached and, squatting down beside Naya, kissed her forehead, whispered "happy birthday" once more, and placed a hand gently on the side of Heather's head. "See you two on Monday." She left with Lea, holding the brunette's tiny hand safely in hers.

Throughout all this, Heather lay there, keeping her breathing steady and deep, her mind working a mile a minute. The alcohol was still scrambling her thoughts, but she told herself to think straight. The voice in her head commanded her to pull herself together, told her that her problem was that she was drunk and horny…but her body had a mind of its own, and it was putting up quite a fight. Her arm was on fire against Naya's body, and in the past half hour the heat had crept into her chest and down between her legs as well. She felt her eyes swim dizzily behind her closed eyelids, wishing she hadn't had the final two drinks during Spin the Bottle. Not knowing what to do, she just lay there motionless, waiting for something to happen, wanting everybody to leave.

And finally, they were gone.

For a moment, Naya continued to rub circles slowly on Heather's arm. Heather felt her stomach swoop when Naya scratched gently with her fingernails and turned her body to face Heather's. Heather opened her eyes sleepily and realized her judgment was slipping away, that she could do anything with the excuse of alcohol in her system.

"Hi," Naya whispered.

"Hi." Heather gave her a sleepy smile.

Naya reached a hand up and ran her fingers through Heather's hair. "Are you drunk?" she asked her.

Heather giggled in answer.

"Me too," Naya grinned. She scooted closer to her friend. "You think…" she trailed off, a question in her voice. "I mean, can I…" She bit her bottom lip nervously and looked into Heather's eyes quickly before closing the space between their lips.

Heather hadn't expected it to happen so fast. Immediately, all rational thoughts flew away, banished by the sudden rush of feeling that blossomed in her chest and between her legs. She found herself out of breath already as she lazily moved her lips against Naya's, savoring the scent of her friend's breath so close to her. She felt brave and parted her lips to slip her tongue into Naya's mouth.

The only thought in her head was that she needed Naya _now. _She put a hand on Naya's shoulder and rolled her onto her back before swinging one leg over the Latina's body and straddling her hips without bothering to sit up. She felt her chest press against Naya's, the two of them breathing fast and heavily, and she kissed her deeply before sitting up slightly for a breath, pulling Naya's bottom lip gently between her teeth.

Naya looked up at her. She looked slightly panicked and _very_ turned on. Heather wanted to tell her she was beautiful but wasn't sure if she should. She leaned down to kiss her again and Naya put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

"Wait."

Heather looked at her questioningly, her long hair swinging forward and grazing the side of Naya's face. "Are you okay?"

Naya put a hand over her mouth and quickly sat up. Heather fell off her as she quickly scrambled up and ran unsteadily to the bathroom.

"Oh god…" Heather sighed, running a hand through her hair. She cringed when she heard the sound of her friend vomiting into the toilet. At least she made it to the bathroom. The blond took a deep breath and let it out slowly to calm herself. "Hang on girl, I'm coming…" she called weakly, before making her way to the kitchen to get Naya a glass of water.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: My dear readers, can't tell you how much I appreciate the reviews! I realize my chapters have been short, but they should be getting a bit longer after this one and the story will start to pick up a bit more. Thanks for reading and enjoy!**

Chapter Three

Heather opened her eyes for what felt like the thousandth time that night and lifted her watch to her face. 7:00 AM. It'd been two hours since she'd last heard Naya roll out of bed and pad softly into the bathroom, her steps light and quick on the carpet. The girl must've thrown up fifty times that night – or at least every thirty minutes. Not the best night for either of them.

Heather wasn't too squeamish when it came to stuff like this, so for the first hour or so she had sat with Naya on the cold tile floor of the bathroom, holding her shiny hair behind her neck and handing her little Dixie cups of water to sip. After about half an hour of misery, Naya had looked up at Heather. Her face had crumpled in self-pity and a few tears pooled in her eyes. "Heather," she whimpered, a tiny plea.

"I know, baby," Heather had said, slowly rubbing her hand in circles across the back of Naya's shoulders.

"Never again," Naya had whispered weakly, her tired body draped over the rim of the toilet. "Fuck." She spat into the bowl.

As Heather had helped her into bed and tucked the blanket tightly around her, she wondered what exactly it was that Naya had been referring to with that "never again." She thought of how swept up she had been in Naya's embrace. She'd been caught up in the heat of the moment, that was all, and all feelings of sexiness had come to a complete and abrupt halt as soon as the vomiting had begun. All she wanted to do now was curl up next to Naya and keep her warm. She didn't have the energy to spare another thought about what had happened between them.

The sun was slanting piercingly through the plastic window shades. She'd have to get up soon and make some coffee, make sure Naya got plenty to drink. Heather sighed and rolled over. The spot in the bed next to her was empty, the sheets pushed back from when Naya had gotten up in a hurry. Heather sat up, her head pounding slightly, her mouth dry.

"Naya?" she croaked. Swinging her legs off the side of the bed, she rubbed her eyes and pushed herself into a standing position. "Naya?" she said again. She entered the bathroom to find Naya curled up with a blanket on the floor in front of the toilet, fast asleep. "Oh, baby…" Heather knelt down beside her and smoothed a hand over her forehead, pushing her hair off her face. Naya opened her eyes groggily.

"Sweetie, you poor thing. Let's get you up off the floor, okay? Are you still feeling sick?"

Naya shook her head and put an arm around Heather, allowing her to help her to her feet. She clutched at the fleece blanket, and Heather helped her pull it up over her shoulders. Then, putting an arm around her, she walked her back to the bedroom and helped her into bed.

"Quite a night last night, huh?" Naya rasped, her voice hoarse and raw-sounding. She tried for a small smile.

"You can say that again. I'll go get you some water. Hold tight."

"Not going anywhere."

Heather hurried into the kitchen for a glass of tap water, wondering if Naya would bring up their little make-out session. She felt anxious and tingly when she thought about it. She wanted her to bring it up, and yet she was scared to talk about it. She didn't know what it had meant. Or if it had meant anything at all.

When she re-entered her bedroom, she found Naya was sitting propped against some pillows, her knees bent and pulled up towards her chest.

"Happy birthday to you," Heather said with a smile, holding out the water. "Drink up."

Naya rolled her eyes but obediently took a few slow swallows.

Heather walked around and sat on the other side of the bed, staring shyly at Naya. Naya just looked back at her over her water glass. After a few seconds she patted the bed next to her. "Come here," she said.

Heather slid her long legs under the sheets and scooted over to Naya, cuddling up to her side, her head on the Latina's shoulder and one arm over her stomach.

"Thanks for taking care of me," Naya said. She sat with her glass in one hand on her lap and the other tracing circles on the back of Heather's hand. "That was miserable. I never want to drink again. And guess what I'll be doing tonight?"

"Drinking," they both said at the same time, and grinned.

Naya groaned. "God, what a terrible idea to be born on the same weekend as the premiere party. Bad planning on my part."

The cast had planned tonight's premiere party months ago – even though it wasn't really a premiere but rather the recommencement of the show after the mid-season hiatus. Really it was just a reason for all of them to get together and get drunk. They were going to watch the show and then head out to a club to celebrate.

"It really was. I can't believe your prenatal self didn't look ahead and plan accordingly," Heather replied, and Naya chuckled.

"Just don't let me drink so much tonight. Two drinks, tops, okay? How'd I end up getting so drunk last night anyway? Someone must've been slipping extra shots into my V8…"

"Don't look at me, Dianna was doing the mixing," Heather said.

"And how come you're fine and I puked my guts out all night? How is that fair?"

"Hey, I was drunk, I can just hold my liquor better than you. Lightweight," Heather teased.

Naya took another sip of water. "So…" she began hesitantly. "How much do you remember of last night?"

"Umm…" Heather guessed where this was going, and anxiety tickled her stomach. She pushed herself up and sat cross-legged, facing Naya. She picked nervously at her fingernails. "All of it," she said truthfully, and glanced up.

"So you remember us…?"

"Yeah."

Naya nodded slowly and sat there silently, staring ahead. Heather glanced nervously from her own hands in her hap to Naya's face, waiting anxiously for her to say something more. Naya looked at her.

"What…_was _that?" she asked quietly.

"I don't know," Heather said slowly, looking into her eyes. "I…it just kind of happened." She looked down. "I kind of…it was…fun," she said finally, timidly, and then tilted her eyes up to look at Naya, gauging her reaction.

"Yeah," Naya said vaguely. "And weird."

Heather stomach sank a little at her words. She looked down again, focused on her nails. "Yeah," she agreed. "Weird." After a pause, she asked, "Did you…feel anything?"

Naya seemed to consider her words carefully. "Yeah," she admitted. "I did. I felt a lot actually…. You're a good kisser," she said shyly, nervously. "Drunk and horny, right?"

"I guess so." Heather was gathering a little courage, and she decided to go on. "Crazy though, huh? I mean, what if…what if you hadn't stopped me? You know, so you could go throw up. What would've…?" Her unfinished question hung in the air between them. She suddenly felt she'd said too much, although she had a feeling Naya was wondering the same thing.

"Well, it is what it is," Naya said after a slight pause, her voice slightly uncertain. "We were drunk. It happened. So…now we move on, I guess. And we don't get so drunk next time. Yeah?"

"Yeah," Heather said quietly.

"Hey." Naya put a finger under Heather's chin. "Are we okay?"

"Yeah, of course," Heather said, her voice falsely cheerful.

Naya looked into her eyes, a small frown on her face. "Good. Now let's get me some ibuprofen so I can sleep off this hangover in your nice comfy bed."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

After taking a nice hot shower and pulling on a pair of sweats and a comfy tank, Heather felt a lot better. As far as hangovers went, she was lucky; she would wake up dehydrated and with a slight headache, but after an hour or so she always felt better. She knew Naya was in for a day of bed rest, though, so she tiptoed around her bedroom quietly while she dressed, and then closed the door softly behind her.

Heather walked into her kitchen and sighed. It was littered with beer bottles, pizza sauce-smeared paper plates, and countless red plastic cups with faces and names scrawled all over them in black Sharpie. She stacked the cups and threw them away along with the plates, and then gathered an armful of beer bottles to toss in the recycling bin. The island in her kitchen was covered with sticky shot glasses and nearly empty bottles of rum, tequila, and vodka. She decided to leave that mess for later. She was starving.

She sat on a stool at the island and picked up her phone. "Lunch date?" she texted Dianna. She spun slowly back and forth on the stool, waiting for a reply. Her eyes drifted over to her closed bedroom door and she thought of the Latina sleeping in her bed. She felt a swoop in her stomach as she thought about their kiss last night, the feel of Naya's body pressed against hers. She hadn't wanted to stop. She _really _hadn't wanted to stop.

She wanted it to happen again.

It was a strange thought, sure. She'd kissed a girl or two at the occasional party, and it was enjoyable, but…she'd never wanted to keep _going_ before. As she thought about Naya, and how much she would like to kiss her again, touch her…she was slightly surprised to find that this thought didn't scare her. Instead, it thrilled her. She suddenly became aware that she was actually aroused, and she crossed one leg over the other self-consciously. Her phone buzzed in her hand.

"Meet you at our café in an hour?" Dianna had replied.

Looking once more at her bedroom door, Heather felt a strong urge to slip quietly into the room and curl up against Naya's warm body instead, to drift in and out of sleep with the girl in her arms. But Naya had basically said the kiss was a mistake. It hadn't meant anything to her.

Heather tapped out a response. She needed to talk to someone. "That's a go. See you then."

As she approached the orange sunburst sign of Mello, Heather saw Dianna waving at her from a table next to the window inside the café. Her stomach growled at the thought of the specialty crepes awaiting her. She slipped gladly into the warmth of the café's welcoming atmosphere – the long metal counter where the workers expertly spread batter on the large crepe skillets, cracked eggs and sprinkled Nutella as the batter began to cook.

"Hey girlfriend," Dianna said as Heather sat down across from her. "How you feeling this morning?"

"Not too bad," Heather said. "Naya's passed out in my bed, though… She threw up all night."

"Oh, poor birthday girl," Dianna said. "Wouldn't expect any less of her, though. What a sweetheart."

"Hope she's ready for tonight," Heather said. "Part two."

"Ah, well I'm sure you took good care of her, as always," Dianna said, smiling.

"I did my best," Heather said, smiling modestly. She did always take good care of Naya whenever anything was wrong. She liked it that way. It was as if the two approached any adventure with the idea that Heather would keep an eye on Naya, no matter what. Even for matters as simple as a party, Heather knew that Naya was expecting her to take care of her if things got out of hand. And she liked playing that role. She felt most comfortable when she had a protective arm around her best friend. She would shield her from anything, if she could. She was the one to grab Naya's hand and guide her along. Thinking back on last night, she was surprised that Naya had taken the upper hand in kissing her first.

"Di…" Heather began, and then paused.

Dianna frowned a tiny bit, taking a sip of her tea. "Yeah? Everything okay?" she asked.

The waiter interrupted their conversation just then, asking them if they were ready to order. Heather asked for a ham and cheese crepe and Dianna ordered a breakfast crepe. Heather took a moment to think about what she wanted to say to Dianna.

Dianna just looked at her expectantly after the waiter had gone.

"I…" Heather hesitated. Dianna wouldn't judge her. Heather was normally a private person, but she was close to Dianna, and she felt she needed to tell someone what had happened before it burst out of her, either due to excitement or anxiety.

"I kissed Naya last night," she said. The words just rushed out of her before she could think about them. "Or rather, she kissed me. I don't know, it all just happened really fast," Heather said. "One minute we were lying there in front of the tv, and the next I was on top of her."

Dianna's eyes widened a bit and her eyebrows rose as she sipped at her tea.

"Wow," she said mildly. "Okay, then. Oh my goodness. Did you…like it?"

Heather took a deep breath. "Yeah," she said, exhaling. "Yeah, I did. I liked it a lot."

"Did you have feelings for Naya before?" Dianna asked gently, tilting her head a bit.

"I…I don't know. I think maybe I did. It was like, as soon as it happened – as soon as we kissed, I mean – I realized that I'd liked her all along. That I'd always wanted to kiss her…and suddenly it was happening and…it was _great_," Heather said. "And I wanted to keep going…and then she got up and ran into the bathroom and proceeded to puke her guts out for the rest of the night."

Dianna groaned sympathetically.

"So yeah, that put an end to that. But Di, _she _kissed me first. And this morning….it was like it was all just some huge mistake to her. Or maybe not a mistake, but just…_nothing. _It was just like some random drunken hook-up." Heather passed a hand over her forehead fretfully. "I don't know what to do about it," she said, defeated.

Dianna sat back, thinking. "Well," she said slowly. "Do you _like _Naya? Do you want to like, do it again?"

Heather bit her lip nervously. "I think so," she said. "Yeah. Yeah, I want to do it again. I don't know if I _like _her, but… I want to kiss her again." As soon as the words passed her lips, though, she knew the untruth of them. She _did _like Naya.

"So there's a chance tonight… " Dianna said distractedly. Then, looking up, she said, "Oh Heather, I don't know. I don't know if this is a good idea. I don't want to see you get hurt. I mean…girls do that sometimes, you know? They make out with their best friends when they're drunk. And…as much as I hate to say it, it usually doesn't mean anything, hon…"

Heather sighed. "I guess. But…now I can't let it go. You know? I just have to be sure. If I could just kiss her once more, I feel like I could be sure about what she feels. Or doesn't feel. I just… I'm so intrigued. Is that wrong?"

"Of course it's not wrong," Dianna said. "Heather, your feelings are never _wrong. _It's just hard to know whether the other person returns those feelings."

Heather sighed. "Well, I need to find out."

"Time to get up!" Heather said loudly, walking into her bedroom and sitting on the bed next to Naya with a bounce. "It's 4 o'clock!"

Naya groaned and rolled over in the bed, pulling the bedspread up over her face.

"Ohhh, come on Nay-Nay," Heather said happily, throwing herself over the sleeping form of the Latina. "You know you wanna get up and party more with me." Her arms squeezed once around Naya's waist.

"Shut up," Naya said, her voice muffled against the blanket. "You're such a bad influence."

"I haven't even gotten warmed up yet," Heather teased. "Get up and get dressed and I'll pour you a shot…._then _maybe you can call me a bad influence."

"Just no tequila," Naya said as she rolled over. "Anything but that."

"God, I can't believe we're doing this again!" Jenna shouted against the blare of the music. She picked up a shot glass gingerly between thumb and forefinger.

"Here's to a vomit-free night," she grinned, looking at Naya.

"Shut up and swallow, Crispy," Naya said with a grin, before throwing back her shot of Bacardi.

Heather smiled. She was sitting on the counter in Kevin's apartment, a plastic cup full of Captain and coke in her hand. She hadn't been able to take her eyes off Naya all night. The Latina looked stunning in a tight, shiny black dress and heels. And Heather was counting – Naya had had four drinks so far tonight. The blond was torn between wanting to get trashed and wanting to stay in control.

"_He-_moooo," Kevin said, wandering over. "You ready for the clubs tonight, girlfriend? Ready to get yo' dance on?"

"Always," Heather shouted over the music. She put a hand on Kevin's shoulder and slipped off the counter. "Dance with me?" she said into his ear.

"You know it," he said, moving smoothly around the kitchen with her. After a minute he moved playfully up against her back, his hands on her stomach, moving with her.

Heather laughed and twirled her hips around, feeling them move against his. She looked over at Naya and caught her looking. The Latina smiled when Heather looked over at her, and then frowned.

"Back off, Kev…everyone knows Hemo is mine!" Naya yelled loudly, making her way over.

With her hands in the air and a dance in her step, Naya approached Heather with a grin. Heather did not hesitate to match Naya's moves, twirling across the kitchen with her hands in the air and her eyes on her own hips.

"Aren't you?" Naya said loudly as she met Heather.

"Always," Heather said, her hands moving automatically to Naya's hips. "Dance for me, baby!" she shouted. Naya laughed and put her hands on Heather's shoulders.

"You know what," she said suddenly, pausing. "You and I need a shot. I haven't done a single shot with you yet this weekend." She grabbed Heather's hand and pulled her over to the sink, where the bottles were stacked. "Rum or tequila?" She picked up the bottle of tequila.

"You told me no tequila," Heather laughed.

"Whatever, I'm feeling a body shot, and you know that calls for some Patrón," Naya said. She poured some of the gold liquid into a shot glass. "You want one? Body shot?" Naya tempted her with a smile.

"Yeah," Heather said, laughing. "Bring it."

"Oh my god," Mercedes said loudly as Heather stripped her shirt over her head with one fluid movement. "Could we please just get a replay of the alcohol episode here?"

"Yeahhhh, body shots!" Kevin shouted, and everyone crowded around.

Heather hoisted herself onto the edge of the island, empty beer glasses clinking against one another as her body took over the space. She laid back, her long hair draped gracefully off one end, her abs taut against her arched body. Her heart pounded with nerves. She was aching with desire already, lying vulnerably out in the open, her stomach bared to Naya, who was standing above her. Naya leaned in with a mischievous smile, one hand pushing the hair back off Heather's forehead. Her lips tickled Heather's ears.

"You ready for this?" she asked, her voice low.

Heather turned to look into her eyes. "So ready," she said. Then, surprising herself, she reached a hand up and gripped the back of Naya's head, fisting her hair gently. "Bring it, Rivera. And give me the lime."

Kevin handed Heather the slice of lime, and she put the rind between her teeth, holding it ready for when Naya would need it. A tiny burst of sourness made her mouth water.

Naya grinned and moved down Heather's slim body. She shook the saltshaker above her stomach and watched the tiny salt particles cling to the sheen of her light skin. Heather felt her breathing speed up a bit as Naya's warm breath tickled across her stomach. Slowly, a hot, rough tongue slid across the salt on her smooth skin, and then Naya tipped the golden shot into her mouth and followed it with a grimace.

"Lime, lime…" she choked out, and, putting her hands on Heather's shoulders, she leaned in and bit down on the flesh of the lime held in the blond's teeth. She looked into Heather's eyes quickly, and in one fluid motion she pulled the lime out of her own mouth and leaned down to give Heather a quick peck on the lips, their mouths tangy against one another.

Heather sat up, grinning. "Hot," she said, laughing. "You look disgusted." She swung her legs over the side of the island and stood unsteadily, her head swimming with desire and alcohol.

"And you look…slightly tipsy? One more shot," Naya said, already pouring a shot of rum into one of the glasses. "Hurry up."

"No body shot for me?" Heather asked with a pout.

"Just take it, quick."

Heather heard the urgency in Naya's voice, and she took the shot glass between two fingers and tipped it back against her lips. Naya kept a hand on Heather's still-bare waist as she swallowed the burning liquid with a grimace.

"Come on," Naya said suddenly, taking her hand.

"Where are we going?" Heather asked.

"Bathroom," Naya said over her shoulder, pulling Heather through the living room. "I have to pee." She pulled Heather into the small bathroom and shut the door behind her.

"What are you –" Heather's voice faded abruptly as Naya grabbed her by the hips and pushed her up against the cheap porcelain sink. She pressed her body against Heather's until their faces were only an inch or two apart. Naya's eyes were closed and her full lips hovered above the blond's pink ones.

Heather stood motionless, waiting, her lips parted. Naya's body was warm against her bare stomach. She wanted to move forward, just the tiniest bit, so their lips would touch, but she didn't dare, couldn't move…

"Ah!" Naya made a noise of exasperation and pushed off the sink, spinning around with a palm to her forehead. "Okay, okay, okay…" she repeated, putting the toilet seat down and sitting on it. "What am I doing, what am I doing…"

Heather didn't know what to do. She stood at the sink, torn, wanting so badly to take Naya in her arms and also wanting to just leave, go back to the party, leave the Latina there alone until she could just figure it out.

She found herself walking over to kneel shakily in front of Naya. She sat back on her heels and put her hands on Naya's bare knees.

"Naya," Heather said. "Look at me." She gently pulled Naya's hands away from her face and held them in her own. "You're really drunk, okay?" she said, and sighed inwardly. She was to be the voice of reason. "You told me this morning that you were just drunk and horny, remember? I think you might just be feeling the same way. You just want some action and here I am." She held her arms out and grinned playfully. Naya gave her a small smile. "I mean I'm the hottest piece of ass here, honestly." She swayed a bit, rebalanced herself against Naya's knees, and reached up to put a hand to Naya's soft cheek. "I don't want you to do something you'll regret, though, okay honey? Even if I do really wanna kiss you right now."

Naya stared at Heather, her eyes darting rapidly between her clear blue eyes and her lips. She put a hand over Heather's, against her face. She squeezed it once and then moved Heather's hand away and stood up, causing Heather to rock backward, unbalanced.

"You're right," she said, her back to Heather, one hand on the sink for balance. "You're right. I don't wanna regret it."

Heather breathed heavily, staring up at Naya from the floor.

"Naya…" she said quietly, but the Latina was already leaving.

Heather sat motionless for a minute, staring at the door. Eventually she scooted backward so that she was leaning against the bathtub. She pulled her knees up to her chest. A heaviness had settled over her, and she wanted to cry, but she felt numb. The bathroom swam in front of her eyes, and she watched absentmindedly as the doorframe seemed to move upward on itself, upward and upward but never going anywhere.

"Heather?" A hand came around the door, followed by Dianna's blond head. "Oh, honey. What happened? Are you sick?"

Heather shook her head. "Naya," she said simply.

"Oh, girl… what happened?" Dianna closed the door behind her and sat down next to Heather, smoothing her dress over her legs.

Heather shook her head again. Her eyes squeezed shut as she felt hot tears forming. Dianna put an arm around her shoulders, and Heather leaned into her and started to cry, one hand over her face.

"Boy, she really got a hold on you all of a sudden, didn't she?" Dianna said, stroking Heather's hair soothingly.

Heather sniffed loudly. "I'm so stupid," she said thickly through her tears.

"Oh Hemo, you're not stupid, honey." Dianna pulled her closer. "It happens to the best of us, you know? You've just gotta let this crush go. She loves you. You're her best friend. And that's just as important."

"It's not that easy," Heather said, wiping tears away with the back of her hands. "I feel like there's something there." She sniffed again and sat up. "Maybe she just needs time."

She started to get shakily to her feet, and Dianna stood up to help her. "Are we going to the club soon?" she asked, and Dianna nodded.

"Yeah, they're about to call the taxis. You sure you wanna go? Maybe you should just go to bed, sleep this off. I'll stay home with you if you want."

"No, I wanna go. I'm already drunk, I might as well," Heather said gloomily, looking at her red face in the mirror.

"Well, you can really pull off the hot mess look, that's for sure," Dianna said, running a hand over Heather's back. "Come here." She pulled Heather into a tight hug. "It's gonna be okay. I love you and it's gonna be okay."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: To jenna, who kindly pointed out that I wrote "Mercedes" instead of "Amber" – great catch! That made me laugh. It's so accurate to my lifestyle, always mixing up character names with actor names. Sometimes when I watch the show, I'll mention Santana and Heather in the same sentence, or talk about a Lea/Finn scene, etc…**

**Anyway, back to our two favorite girls! **

Chapter 5

"Shotgun!" Heather shouted in what she hoped was a cheerful voice. She had dried her tears and smiled once at herself in the bathroom mirror before rejoining the party, where everyone had been pulling on jackets and preparing to leave.

Dianna had decided that she would drive a few people to the club in her Range Rover. For one, she was completely sober and was not planning on drinking. The club was also conveniently located between Kevin's apartment, where they'd been pre-gaming, and her own, and would save her time getting home afterward. Not to mention they'd save money by paying for only one taxi instead of two.

But the real reason was that she wanted to have a quick escape ready for Heather, in case there was drama or she just got upset and needed to leave.

"Dammit, Heather! You always beat me to it!" Lea said and whacked Heather on the shoulder. She was carrying her pair of sparkly gold high-heeled shoes in one hand and walking lightly but dizzily on the balls of her feet across the lobby of the apartment building.

"You can't call it before you're in sight of the car, Hemo, you cheater!" Kevin said. "Rules are rules, woman!"

"Yeah, well I can beat you there anyway!" Heather said, laughing.

"Lea, put your shoes on. You can't walk outside barefoot," Dianna scolded lightly, and they all paused as Lea clumsily began pulling on her heels.

The rest of the group – Jenna, Harry, Mark, Cory, Amber, Chris, and Naya – continued past them to the entrance, where their taxi van was waiting at the curb. Heather watched Naya as she walked past, laughing loudly and stumbling into Mark's side, with whom she'd linked arms. Drunk, Heather thought. Definitely drunk. And god, that laugh…it made her whole body tingle to hear it. Heather turned back to Lea, who had hopped sideways into her, and tried to hold her steady as she pulled her shoe on.

Naya glanced over her shoulder at the blond's back as she passed through the front door. She opened her mouth as though to yell Heather's name, get her to look, but Mark was moving too fast, and she was dragged out the door with the rest.

* * *

><p>"You're awful quiet, Heather," Lea said loudly from the backseat. "What's wrong?" She was starting to slur her words a bit.<p>

"No doubt she's contemplating the dance moves she's gonna kill us all with on the flo'!" Kevin answered for her, and Lea laughed.

Heather tried to laugh. "Something like that, Kev," she said.

"I think you just haven't had enoughs to drink," Lea said, reaching up and patting Heather on the shoulder. "Someone needs to catch up. It's okay. You've got time."

"Maybe Heather just doesn't feel like being a crazy-ass drunk ho tonight like you fools," Dianna said, and they all laughed.

Heather turned up the music so that she could feel the speaker in the door vibrate against the side of her leg. "Yeah, but I'mma be doin' some o' this tonight!" she shouted and began to dougie in her seat. Lea and Kevin, having more space (and less grace), began to dance around in the backseat. When she stopped, smiling, at a red light, Dianna reached over and gave Heather's wrist a quick squeeze. Heather smiled back. She wanted to have a good time. She really did.

But she couldn't help thinking she would rather be squeezed into the backseat of a taxi next to Naya right at that moment…

"There it is!" Lea shouted suddenly, pointing between the two front seats. "There!"

"Where?" Dianna asked, as she and Heather peered out the windshield, looking for the club.

"There! That neon green sign!" Lea said.

"Yeah, there's everybody else on the sidewalk, see?" Heather said, pointing as well.

After they had parked, they met the rest of their group on the sidewalk and joined the line to get into the club. They could hear the music loudly even from outside, and through the dark doorway they caught glimpses of flashing lights from the dance floor. Heather stuck with Dianna while they stood in line, casually avoiding Naya, unsure whether or not Naya wanted to be around her.

Once inside, they split up into smaller groups and dispersed, some heading for the bar, others the dance floor, others the couches. Heather felt overwhelmed, like she always did upon first stepping into a club. There were people crowded everywhere, it was hot and very loud. She wanted a drink.

"Drink?" Dianna said, as if on cue. "I'll buy." She took Heather's hand and dragged her towards the bar. Heather was acutely aware that Naya was following close behind with Jenna. She felt Jenna grab her hand so they wouldn't get separated, and she wished it was Naya's hand in hers. God, snap out of it, she thought.

"A Manhattan for this one," Dianna told the bartender. Naya and Jenna ordered their own drinks as well, and a few minutes later they were making their way toward the couches.

"Thanks, Di," Heather shouted loudly, taking a sip of her cocktail.

"No problem," Dianna shouted back. She found an empty couch and sat down. Jenna sat beside her, and Naya sat on the end.

Heather looked nervously at Naya before sitting down beside her. She was careful not to let her long pale legs touch Naya's golden ones when she sat down, but Naya leaned in right away, as if she had completely forgotten the awkwardness between them, and beamed at her.

"Hemo!" she said happily.

"Hey," Heather grinned like a fool. She couldn't help it. "How was the ride over?" she shouted, taking a sip of her drink.

"Ridiculous!" Naya shouted back. "Cory and Mark got into this huge argument about whose hair looked better, and then Amber told them both to–"

"What? I can't hear you!" Heather yelled, leaning closer and motioning towards her ear. God, she hated clubs. Why had she agreed to come again?

Oh, _that's_ why… She shivered as the Latina put a hand on her shoulder and her lips to her ear. "Wanna go to the bathroom?" her voice buzzed against Heather's hairline. "We can't talk here."

"The bathroom?" Heather asked, eyebrows furrowed, and looked into Naya's eyes. She didn't want a repeat of what had happened at Kevin's. "No, I'm okay," she said reluctantly, wanting to play it safe.

Naya looked slightly frustrated, but she reached over and grabbed Jenna's hand and pulled her up instead. "Bathroom!" she shouted at her, and Jenna just followed, pulled along by Naya's grip.

Heather scooted over next to Dianna and put her head on her shoulder. "This is _weird,_" she whined. "I don't like it."

"Cheer up, Hemo. You're okay," Dianna said, running a hand up and down her back. "Let's go dance."

Heather drained her drink and grabbed Dianna's hand as she pulled her up off the couch. They squeezed their way through the crowd, Dianna gently pushing people out of the way, and ended up in the center of the dance floor. Heather put her hands up and swung her hips, bouncing and rocking to the beat. She closed her eyes against the colored lights flashing through the dimness and tried to forget, letting the alcohol and music buzz numbingly through her brain.

Dianna slipped her hand into Heather's and spun Heather around, the taller girl ducking slightly to get under Dianna's outstretched arm. Her laughter was drowned out by the music, but Dianna smiled against her neck as she pulled her into a hug.

"Hey, ladies!" Mark approached them from behind Heather, putting a hand on her waist. "Feelin' good?"

"Hey, hottie!" Heather said playfully, and then stopped – over Mark's shoulder, she spotted Naya on the corner of the floor, smiling and staring up at some blond boy, her hand on his chest. Heather's heart pounded suddenly in her chest.

"Dance with me?" Mark asked her, leaning down to get her attention, but Heather just pushed her way past Mark, bumping into people as she made her way across the crowded floor.

"Heather?" she heard Dianna yell at her back, but she didn't turn around.

She knew she should stop, she should turn around and go back to Dianna, she should go home, _anything _other than continue toward Naya – but her feet just carried her forward, her hands pushed people out of her way roughly. There was something stirring in her gut: anger and hurt and betrayal. She knew it was stupid, but…

"Hey!" she said loudly, stopping in front of Naya and the boy.

Naya turned and looked at her, surprised. "Heather," she said, her brown eyes wide. She looked uncertain, like she didn't know what to do.

Heather just stood there, breathing hard, staring at Naya. She felt tears welling in her eyes. She was torn, wanting to reach out and grab Naya and shake her by the shoulders, wanting to kiss her, wanting to scream. Suddenly she turned and fled, her blond hair whipping out behind her, and half-walked, half-jogged in the general direction of the door, wiping tears from her eyes.

Outside, she paced around on the sidewalk, arms folded tightly across her chest, trying to slow her tears. This was stupid; there was _nothing _going on between her and Naya, there was nothing to be upset about. She was being dramatic and ridiculous, she told herself.

"Heather!" she heard a voice coming from somewhere in the crowd by the door, and she turned away but stopped pacing. "Hemo, where are you?" Heels clicked on the sidewalk behind her. "Heather!" Naya gasped, placing a warm hand on the blond's shoulder.

Heather took a wavering breath, shivering slightly at Naya's touch, and turned around.

"Hey, yeah. What is it?" she asked, sniffling, her voice breaking.

Naya pursed her lips sadly and tilted her head. "Hemo…" she began.

"What are you playing at, Nay?" Heather asked, the words bursting from her lips before she could stop them, her face crumpling.

Naya's eyes darted once to the ground and then back up to blond ones. She put a hand on Heather's wet cheek, taking a step closer. "Heather, I –" she started, but just then Dianna burst through the crowd.

"Heather! Naya," she said, approaching them. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Heather said, shortly. "I just came out for some air. Come on," and she grabbed Dianna's hand and pulled her back towards the club. It hurt to leave Naya behind, but she knew it would hurt more to hear her say that she didn't have feelings for her, that it'd been a mistake. She had to get over this. She needed to do something.

Dianna was squeezing her hand, trying to get her to slow down, but Heather just forged ahead through the crowd and made her way back to the dance floor. She looked around frantically.

"I need a boy!" she shouted desperately at Dianna.

"What?"

"A boy!" Heather repeated, staring around.

"What do you need a boy for?" Dianna asked incredulously. "Honey, why don't we just go –"

But Heather was walking over to a guy standing on the edge of the floor with a drink in his hand. He was tall, with very short, spiky dark hair, wearing a black button-up shirt with sparkly silver pinstripes.

"Hey," Heather said, walking boldly up to him. She wasted no time in putting a hand on his chest. Her heart was pounding and she felt sick – sick and dizzy and desperate. She couldn't even think as she dragged her hand down his chest. The music pounded wordlessly, staticky against her ears, and she pressed her mouth to his.

The guy didn't resist her, he simply set his glass on the table behind him without breaking contact and put his hands around her slim waist. She moved her hand up to his face and moved her lips against his.

Suddenly she felt a second set of arms around her waist, pulling her backwards. "Honey, come on," a voice was saying. "Come on, we need to get you home."

"Hey, what the hell!" the guy shouted as Heather was torn from his arms and pulled protectively into Dianna's.

The shorter blond put an arm around the taller one's waist, not bothering to look twice at the guy. "Let's get you home, okay? You've had a long night." She ran her palm soothingly up and down Heather's arm, moving them along the edge of the dance floor.

Heather just walked along in a daze, defeated. Dianna guided her towards the door. Along the way, they ran into Lea and Kevin. Kevin looked like he was about to say something to Heather, but he closed his mouth when Dianna quickly shook her head at him.

"I think this one here's had enough to drink," Kevin said instead, cocking a thumb at Lea, who was giggling absentmindedly.

Dianna looked at Lea and took her hand as well. "Wanna go home with Heather and me?" she asked.

Lea just nodded happily, a huge smile on her face, and walked with them out of the club.

* * *

><p>They sat in silence for a few blocks as Dianna drove. Heather had her eyes closed, her head against the headrest. Lea was lying down in the backseat, singing quietly along with the radio. Dianna glanced over at Heather every so often.<p>

"I wanted to make her jealous," Heather said finally, quietly, without opening her eyes or moving her head. "I thought maybe she'd realize how much she actually wants me. Because she does. I know she does," she said calmly, almost sleepily.

"Heather…" Dianna said.

"She didn't even see. I made out with that dude for nothing. He was gross." She paused. "_I'm _gross."

"You're not gro-"

"She saw," Lea said suddenly from the backseat. "You mean Naya, right?"

"Yeah…wait, what?" Heather said, sitting up and twisting her body around to stare at Lea in the backseat. "What'd you say?"

"Naya saw you kissing that guy," Lea said loudly and matter-of-factly, pulling herself clumsily into a sitting position, using her seat belt as leverage. "She wasn't very happy about it."

"Hold on. How do you know this? Tell me everything," Heather said, suddenly wide awake.

Lea's eyes were swimming a little, but she sat forward, fully involved in the conversation and proud that she could provide information that no one else could. "Okay. So, I was standing over there in the corner you know, with Kev and Cory and I was getting really drunk and kind of dancing around but mostly just – "

"Unnecessary details!" Dianna said.

"Sorry," Lea said. "So Naya walked over all out of breath and looking upset. It kinda looked like she was crying, her eyes were all red…and then Kevin was like, 'Damn, look at Hemo!' and we all saw you kissing that guy, and then Naya just ran off…and that's around the time Di grabbed you."

"She just ran off? Did she say anything?" Heather asked.

"Mmm no, she just ran off, I think," Lea said.

"Oh god," Heather whispered, facing forward again. She put her face in her hands. "Oh god, oh god…"

"What do you mean 'oh god'?" Dianna asked. "It sounds like she was jealous…"

Heather's voice came out muffled from behind her hands. "Maybe not, maybe she was just upset because of how I confronted her when she was with that guy…"

"Wait, jealous?" Lea interjected.

"What guy?" Dianna asked. "She was with a guy?"

"Yeah, hello, that's why I ran away from you and Mark like an idiot…"

"What do you mean jealous!" Lea repeated loudly.

"I couldn't see you through the crowd!" Dianna said, ignoring Lea. "I didn't know where you went and then I just found you two outside." Comprehension was dawning on her face. Tonight had been worse for Heather than she'd known.

"Yeah, well she was all over some hottie on the dance floor," Heather said sarcastically.

"Oh my god! Are you sleeping with Naya?" Lea asked, her mouth wide open.

"What? No!"

"Lea!" Dianna scolded.

"Sorry." Lea shrank back into her seat.

Heather sighed. "Look…you can't tell anyone, okay?" She turned around to face the drunk girl again, and said resignedly, "We made out at her birthday party."

"_WHAAaattt_?" Lea yelled. "Girl! What? Why didn't I know about this?"

"Maybe because you react like _this_," Dianna said logically, glancing at Lea in the rearview mirror with a smirk.

"And you like her? Like, _like _her?" Lea asked.

"Yeah."

Lea just stared around with her jaw hanging down. "Wow, Hemo," she said eventually, and placed a hand on Heather's shoulder, squeezing once. "Well, she _is_ quite attractive, I mean if I –"

Heather suddenly remembered Lea's story. "Oh my god, I need to talk to her!" she exclaimed, cutting Lea off. "What if she needs me? We need to go back! Should I text her? What do I do?" she asked frantically.

"Honey, calm down. We're not going back. Besides, this is probably not the best time to talk to her…not when you're both drunk, or at least pretty tipsy. You guys need to talk when you're sober," Dianna said calmly. "No texting."

"Or sexting," Lea interjected helpfully, and Dianna rolled her eyes.

Heather sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right…" She dropped her head backwards against the headrest again, suddenly exhausted. She felt overwhelmed by everything that had happened. Emotions were fighting for dominance within her: guilt, excitement, anxiety, worry, elation, fear... She could barely think straight. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine what she would say to Naya tomorrow.

**Let me know what you think! :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Sorry this update took so long – midterms took over my life for a while. Hope you like the new chapter - the morning after the club drama :) **

Chapter 6

On Sunday morning, Heather awoke with a start to the alarm set on her cell phone. Groaning, she searched blindly through the bedcovers with one hand, not bothering to pick her head up. Finding the cell phone at last, she held it up to her face and stared at it with one eye, the other still buried in the pillow. She clicked the snooze button and let her hand fall back to the bed.

The memory of Naya from last night swam in her sleepy mind's eye. She filtered out everything that had happened – all the drama between them, the boy she had kissed – and focused instead on Naya's thick, shiny hair, her curves in that mini-dress, those beautiful dark eyes. She rolled onto her back, slowly pushed a hand up under her shirt, rubbed it over the soft skin of her stomach. Eyes still closed, she palmed her bare breast, imagining Naya's small brown hands there instead, and sighed.

Her phone buzzed. Couldn't be the alarm again already, she thought. She pushed herself up on one elbow and stared at the little text message alert on her screen: "_Nay_-_Nay_."

"Shit," she hissed, sitting up and kicking away her sheets. "Dammit dammit dammit." She couldn't look. Her heart began racing. She scrambled up to sit on the edge of her bed, tangled blond locks spilling over her shoulder. Pushing them impatiently out of her face, she clicked on the text.

"_Hemo. Sorry it's so early. Lost my wallet last night and can't get a cab. Can you pick me up?"_

With her heart pounding like she'd just run a marathon, Heather stared at the text, read it over again before pushing the call button on her screen. She cleared her throat, waiting for Naya to pick up.

"_Hemo?"_

"Hey, what's up? Are you okay?"

"_Yeah, I'm okay. Listen Heather, can you come pick me up? I lost my wallet last night – or somebody stole it, I don't know – but I don't have any money for a cab and I need to get out of here –"_

"Where are you?" Heather bit her bottom lip. Naya sounded a little nervous.

"_I'm at... don't get mad, okay? I'm at some guy's house… I went home with him last night after you left. It was stupid, I don't even know his name, I just – I just really wanna get out of here. Please come get me?" _

Heather sighed and rubbed a hand over her forehead. She wanted to ask Naya if she'd hooked up with the guy. Slept with him. But she didn't want to know. "Yeah. Yeah, of course. Do you have an address?"

"_Uh, yeah…hang on…" _Faint rustling sounds came through the phone. _"Looking for an envelope or something…"_

"Can't you just ask him?" Heather reasoned, annoyed. She walked to the kitchen to find a scrap of paper.

"_He's still asleep and I don't wanna wake him up. Here, got it." _Naya read an address to Heather, who copied it down. _"Heather, can you hurry? I'm sorry. I owe you." _

"Leaving in five. I'll be there as soon as I can. Hold tight, okay?"

Heather wasted only enough time to wash her face, brush her teeth, and throw her bedhead hair up in a messy bun before pulling on a pair of boots over her sweatpants and rushing out the door. As nervous as she was about seeing Naya, she also couldn't wait, and if she was being honest, she wanted to get Naya away from that guy as fast as she could. She was hurt that Naya had gone home with him. She felt betrayed. She cringed to herself, though, as she remembered her own actions from the night before – the boy on the edge of the dance floor, the kiss. And Lea's words. Naya had been crying…

As she drove, following the directions on her GPS, she panicked a little, not knowing what she would say to Naya. How had all of this happened so fast? She pulled out her phone and called Dianna.

"_Heather? Girl, it's like 9 AM… Why are you up already? Is everything okay?"_

Heather took a deep breath and began rattling off the news. "Naya slept over at some guy's house. She slept over at his _house_, Di! And now she wants me to come pick her up because she lost her fucking wallet and she can't get home. I can't believe she went home with him! Who was with her? Who let her do that? I shouldn't have left her." She groaned. "Oh god, I knew we should've gone back! What do I do? I don't know what to do!"

"_Okay, slow down. First of all, you should go pick her up," Dianna said slowly and calmly. _

"Well yeah, I'm doing that. I'm in my car now. But what do I say to her?" Heather switched lanes, craning her neck around to make sure it was clear.

"_Heather…maybe you shouldn't say anything. I think at this point you just need to listen. You've done a lot of guessing and a lot of angsting about what you think she's thinking and feeling, but you don't really know. I think you need to let her talk."_

"What if she doesn't talk?"

"_She will. I have a feeling she's got a lot to say, don't you? I mean, especially after last night?"_

Heather stopped impatiently at a red light, sitting back in her seat. She'd been involuntarily hunched forward, gripping the wheel anxiously.

"Yeah, I guess so. I just…what if she slept with him, Di?" Heather whined quietly, hating the words even as they came out of her mouth.

Dianna hesitated a tiny bit before saying, _"I doubt she slept with him. That doesn't seem like something she would do."_

"But what if she _did?_" Heather said loudly.

"_Let's not focus on the what-ifs. Just take a deep breath, okay? Just calm down and drive. You'll be there soon enough and this will all be worked out." _

Heather groaned and let her forehead fall forward onto the steering wheel. A car honked behind her, and she looked up to find the light had turned green. "Shit. I'm going, I'm _going_…" she muttered.

"_Please don't drive like a maniac."_

"I'm not driving like a maniac!"

"_Okay, well I'm going to hang up so you can concentrate. But just try and relax a little. It's _Naya, _Hemo. She's your best friend. She loves you. It's gonna be okay." _

"Okay," Heather groaned. "I'll call you later so I can spend the day crying on you if things go badly."

"_Deal. Love you."_

"Love you too. Bye."

Heather took a deep breath after tossing the phone back onto her back in the passenger seat. Dianna was right, it was only Naya. Her best friend. Isn't it weird to have feelings for your best friend, though?

Ten minutes later, the GPS on Heather's dash instructed her to turn down a street lined with small but neatly kept houses and told her that her destination was number 1506, on the right. She drove by slowly, staring at the house numbers as she went along. There it was, a small one-story with grayish siding. There were a couple old-looking, slightly beat-up cars parked in the driveway. _Must have roommates_, she thought. _Wonder if it's the same guy I saw her with…_

"I'm out front," she texted Naya after she'd pulled up alongside the curb. She threw her bag into the backseat to make room up front.

The front door opened almost immediately and Naya emerged, still in her slinky black dress from the previous night, only this time she looked...less glamorous. She was carrying her heels, and the waves in her hair were limp and a bit tangled from sleeping on them. She kept her head down and glanced around as she walked hurriedly up to the passenger side of the car, pulled the door open, and climbed in, pulling it shut after her.

There was silence for a second or two. Naya alternately glanced up at Heather and glanced at her hands in her lap. Heather wasn't sure what to say, but the sight of her friend, so subdued and obviously upset, had made any annoyance she had previously felt toward her dissolve.

"Hey," Heather said softly, touching her shoulder.

Naya turned toward her then, arms out, and slipped them around Heather's neck without even looking her in the face. Heather awkwardly hugged her back over the center console, rubbing her back when Naya buried her face in the crook of her neck.

"Hey, it's okay," she said quietly, smoothing fingers over the back of Naya's soft hair. "It's okay."

Naya squeezed Heather tightly before sitting back. She sniffed once. "Thanks for picking me up," she said, chancing a glance up at Heather, who pouted a little in concern.

"Let's get you home," Heather said.

"I don't have a key," Naya said. "It was in my wallet."

"Well, good thing I have the spare, then," Heather said. She looked over at her friend, pushed a strand of black hair behind her ear, and said seriously, "Nay, are you okay? He didn't hurt you?"

Naya shook her head, staring at her hands. Heather decided not to press, and they made the twenty-minute ride back to her place in silence, with Naya slumped down in the seat, eyes closed.

Back at Heather's place, Naya got immediately into the shower while Heather rummaged in her drawers to find a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt that would fit Naya. She figured the pants would be a little long, but she knocked on the bathroom door anyway, opening it a crack.

"Nay?" She stuck her head into the steamy room. "Here's a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. I'll leave them on the counter."

"Thanks, Hemo," Naya said from behind the shower curtain, as Heather set the clothes next to the sink.

Back in the kitchen, Heather put the kettle on the stove to boil and pulled out a light blue teapot, some loose leaf tea, and two mugs. She figured Naya was hungry, and in any case, _she _was starving, so she checked her cupboard to see if she had everything she needed to make some pancakes. Lea had taught her how to make vegan pancakes a few weeks ago – they were made with mashed bananas instead of eggs, and they were even more delicious than her mom's pancakes, although she hated to admit it.

She set to work peeling three bananas, breaking them into pieces before mashing them with a fork in a mixing bowl. Keeping her hands busy dispelled some of the anxiety that was buzzing through her body and helped her think. She knew that as soon as Naya was finished showering, they would have to talk about what had happened last night. She was nervous.

By the time Naya emerged from Heather's bedroom, the first couple pancakes were just starting to sizzle on the griddle.

"Smells good."

Heather turned around, spatula in hand, and gazed at the girl in front of her. Heather's sweatpants were too big for her; Naya had rolled them up at her hips, but they still bunched adorably at her feet. She was wearing no makeup, and her jet-black hair fell in damp, shiny ropes around her face. She smiled, a little timidly.

"You look adorable," Heather said, the first thing that came to her mind, and then blushed. "Have a seat at the island. I'm making us some delicious vegan banana pancakes courtesy of Miss Lea Michele."

"Ohh, sounds delicious," Naya said, sliding onto a stool at the island. She hunched over the counter, propped up on two elbows, facing Heather. "You made tea, too?"

"Oh! Yeah," Heather said, having forgotten. "Should be done steeping by now." She carried a mug over to Naya and poured some of the steaming liquid into it. "Hope you like rooibos," she said.

"You and your tea, Hemo." She lifted the steaming mug to her nose. "Smells good."

"Hey, it's better for you than coffee. Easier on the gullet and full of antioxidants. Although I do love my java, so I can't really talk."

"You sound like a dietitian," Naya smirked, taking a sip. "Mmm. Just as long as I get my caffeine."

"Rooibos is naturally caffeine-free, sorry," Heather said unapologetically, throwing a smile over her shoulder. "But there are other ways to wake you up." She slid a plate of pancakes in front of Naya and set the bottle of syrup down next to her before joining her on the other side of the island with her own breakfast.

"Good?" she asked, as Naya took a bite.

"Really good," Naya said, using one hand to cover her mouth as she spoke.

The two ate in silence for a few minutes. Heather had decided to let Naya begin the conversation. She would wait patiently until she was ready. Fortunately, it didn't take long.

"So, we should probably talk about last night," Naya said quietly, glancing up at Heather.

Heather set down her fork softly. "Yeah," she said, and waited.

"I…I don't know what's going on, Heather." She looked up, her eyes full of something that Heather couldn't place. Pain? Panic? "So much happened last night. The bathroom at Kevin's, and then the club…"

Heather sat silently, watching as Naya's eyes glanced around, searching for words.

"I wanted to kiss you," she said suddenly, her voice low. "At Kevin's. But I didn't. I don't know why… I got scared, I think…."

Heather reached across the island and grasped Naya's hand, squeezing. Naya held on tight, and it seemed to give her some strength. Her words began to come more freely.

"Heather, I was so scared. I _am _scared. I mean, suddenly I can't stop thinking about you. I can't stop thinking about that stupid spin-the-bottle game." Her eyes searched Heather's desperately as her voice turned to a whisper. "I don't know what's going on inside me. I…and I was jealous, and scared, so I found that one guy. And then you appeared, and you looked so upset, so I followed you out of the club…" Her voice trailed off. Heather could see the shine of tears welling in her eyes.

"And then it hit me," she began again, swallowing. "That maybe you…I mean…" She paused and took a breath. "Did you want it, too?"

It was Heather's turn to take a shaky breath. "Yes," she said, looking straight at Naya.

Naya just nodded, appearing slightly overwhelmed. "Okay," she said to herself. "Okay. Yes, and then I saw you kissing that guy…"

Heather cringed, closing her eyes at the memory. "I was upset…I shouldn't have, Naya. It was stupid."

Naya shook her head suddenly. "You don't have to apologize," she said. "Heather, I went home with him. I was so upset and so confused, and I thought maybe he was looking for some action, and…I don't know, I think I did it to get back at you." Her voice was barely a whisper now. "I'm so sorry, Heather. It was stupid."

Heather was still clutching Naya's hand. She reached across with her other arm and took Naya's hand in both of hers, rubbing her thumbs soothingly over tanned skin.

"It's okay, Nay. Last night was fucked up on a lot of levels." She smiled, and Naya laughed a little and wiped her eyes. "Let's just forget about it, okay?"

"Okay," Naya said, putting her other hand on top of Heather's. "I didn't sleep with him," she said quickly. "We kissed. That's it. We didn't even make out. Once I got back to his place, I was sobering up and I realized how stupid I'd been. I wouldn't let him do anything."

Heather squeezed Naya's hand. "Okay, now I kind of feel sorry for the guy. Teased and tortured by both of us." She grinned.

Naya laughed again, a quiet breathy laugh through her diminishing tears. "Only us, Hemo. This would only happen to us."

They both laughed. Heather felt relief flood through her, carrying away her worry and heartache. She felt so light. And so hungry. She released Naya's hand so she could take another bite of her pancake.

They finished their breakfast, occasionally smiling shyly at one another. Heather didn't want to ruin the perfection of the moment with more words. She knew what she needed to know. Naya had feelings for her. That was all that mattered at the moment.

"Here, let me clean up," Naya said, picking up their plates when they were finished.

"No, don't be silly. I've got it," Heather said, following her over to the sink.

"Nah, I want to help. Here, you can dry," Naya said, running a soapy dish under the stream of water from the faucet. She handed it off to Heather, who was standing very close to her with a dishtowel. Heather wiped the towel over the plate.

"I think you're missing spots," Heather said with mock criticism, scrutinizing Naya's scrubbing. "Sub-par job, Rivera. I don't know why I hired you."

Naya flicked some foam at Heather's face with her fingers. "Shut up," she said, and Heather giggled and jumped back.

"I'm serious, look at this plate," Heather said, holding up a spotless dish. She tried to keep a straight face as she said, "This is absolutely, without a doubt, the _worst _cleaning job –"

"All right, you know what – " Naya grabbed at the plate and tried to pull it out of Heather's hands, but the blond had a good grip on it, and Naya only succeeded in yanking her closer along with the plate. They grinned at one another, the plate held between them at chest height, until Heather's smile faded and she looked more seriously at Naya. Naya's grip slackened as Heather moved to put the plate on the counter beside them.

Moving her hands to her waist, at the top of the rolled-up sweatpants, Heather turned Naya slightly and gently pushed her back against the sink. She moved closer, until her stomach was pressed against Naya's, and reached behind the brunette to turn off the running water.

In the sudden silence, Naya closed her eyes. "Heather…" she whispered, her voice barely audible.

Heather gently brushed soft, just-washed brunette locks off Naya's face, before her hand came to rest against her cheek. She gazed at Naya's flawless olive skin, dark eyelashes resting gently against the tops of her cheeks. And then she kissed her.

The two drew in deep breaths through their noses, and Naya pressed back against Heather's warm lips, her damp, slightly soapy arms snaking around the blond's neck to pull her closer. Heather moved her hands to the small of Naya's back, feeling her arch against her, breasts pressed into hers, lips parting to deepen the kiss. A tiny moan escaped her as she felt Naya's tongue brush softly against her lower lip, just as it had the first time they'd kissed. She opened her mouth against Naya's, wet tongues met, and Heather felt a surge of electricity run through her body, leaving her warm and breathless.

They kissed deeply, Naya gripping Heather's hair as she was pushed harder against the sink, tongues sliding slowly against one another. Heather moaned again, and Naya pulled back, breathless, looking into her eyes. She took her hand and led her into the living room, where she pushed gently against her so that Heather sat willingly on the couch.

Naya climbed carefully onto Heather, straddling her lap.

Heather met her eyes and whispered, "Are you okay? You don't want to stop?"

Naya shook her head. "Not yet," she whispered, bending her head down to meet her lips.

Heather arched her body up into Naya's, wanting to be closer, closer, needing to feel Naya against her. She pulled at her hips until they were molded together, Naya's hands tangled in Heather's hair, their tongues fighting against one another. Naya moaned quietly and pushed her hips forward into Heather's lap. Heather lifted her lips slightly, instinctively, and kissed from the corner of Naya's mouth, down her jaw and onto her neck. Naya tilted her head back, neck exposed, breathless, long black hair hanging down her back.

Heather could barely breathe. Her heart was pounding as she sucked at Naya's neck, swirling her tongue against the soft skin, feeling Naya's chest heave against hers, her fingertips against her scalp. Her arms ached as they held Naya to her, trying to pull her closer, closer.

She slipped a hand under the t-shirt she'd given Naya to wear, moving her palm up the side of her body, pausing just at the side of her breast. Naya brought her lips back to Heather's as she reached down to put a hand over Heather's, guiding it over her breast, pressing down so that Heather palmed her hard, rubbing up and down over the soft flesh. She let go and arched into Heather's hand, rolling her hips again into her lap, moaning.

Heather used both hands to pull Naya's shirt over her head and toss it on the floor. She palmed one breast with her left hand while kissing down Naya's neck and over the other breast. When Naya felt hot breath ghost over her nipple, she tangled her hands again in Heather's hair, arching into her mouth. Heather sucked on the already hard nipple, running her tongue over the sensitive bud, over and around and around.

"Oh, _fuck…_" Naya hissed between breaths. She rolled her hips again, searching for friction.

Heather deftly lifted Naya off her lap to lay her down on the couch before straddling her. She stared down at her, dark hair splayed around her face, chest heaving, one nipple wet and shining. "C'mere," Naya whispered, motioning Heather closer. Heather gently lowered herself onto Naya.

"Naya," she whispered, as Naya took Heather's hand in hers and began to guide it between their bodies. Heather's breath caught as Naya pressed her palm firmly to the warm area between Naya's legs.

"Naya," she repeated.

"What," Naya said, breathlessly.

"Don't you think we should slow down a little?"

Naya opened her eyes. "Slow down?" she asked, seeming to consider it. "Slow down. Okay. Okay, we can slow down." She sat up a little, releasing Heather's hand, catching her breath. "Why do you want to slow down? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Heather said awkwardly, getting off Naya. "I just…I think we're moving really fast. Don't you?"

"Um, yeah," Naya said, sitting up. "Um. Will you hand me my shirt?"

Heather reached down for the shirt and handed it to Naya, who slipped it on inside-out and then ran a hand over her face and through her hair.

"I'm sorry, I just…I don't want to rush things or screw them up, but…have you ever done this with a girl?" Heather asked.

Naya grinned. "No," she said, crossing her legs. "I've never had feelings like this for a girl. I mean, I've had _some _feelings, but nothing…nothing like this." She reached for Heather's hand, and Heather gladly took it, relieved that she hadn't done anything wrong.

"Me neither." She scooted closer to Naya, pushing her down onto the couch again and lying down next to her. She slid an arm over Naya, and they lay face-to-face, whispering. "I'm kind of nervous," she said honestly.

Naya ran a hand over Heather's cheek slowly. "Me too," she said gently. "I don't know what's going on. But I think I've had feelings for you for a long time now."

"Me too."

"So I guess we'll just have to figure it out as we go."

"Mm-hm."

Naya smiled. "Sorry I got so carried away. You're evil for making me stop…but I guess I'll forgive you eventually."

"You're not the only one who got carried away," Heather whispered, kissing Naya softly.

Naya sighed. "Oh, Hemo…" she whispered. She pulled Heather closer so that she could rest her chin on top of her head. They lay in contented silence, Naya stroking Heather's long blond hair, over and over, soothingly.

**Let me know what you think/feel/want from me! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The next day, the cast was scheduled to shoot a full-group number. Heather half-ran across the parking lot, coffee in hand. She was fifteen minutes late and didn't want to hold everybody up. It was a beautiful day outside – cold, but with a clear blue sky.

As soon as she stepped onto the set, all eyes turned toward her. She glanced automatically at Naya, blue eyes locking briefly with brunette ones before she turned to Ryan apologetically.

"Sorry I'm late," she said, not really having an excuse.

"It's okay, come on," Ryan said, jerking his head toward the stage, where the rest of the cast were already standing, in costume but without makeup, so the choreographer could keep an eye on how well they were staying in unison.

Heather stripped off her sweatshirt and jogged over to join the formation. She slipped easily into the routine. The full-cast dance numbers were a lot easier than the type of dancing she was used to. Naya told her once that Heather could make _any _move look fabulous, and that Ryan must agree because the camera favored her during dance numbers. Heather hadn't noticed that before Naya pointed it out to her. She was secretly pleased that Naya had noticed.

As the cast danced around each other onstage, singing, Heather caught Naya looking at her every so often. Her stomach fluttered a little each time she passed the brunette, and it gave her an adrenaline rush. She felt on fire with dancing, like she was onstage in front of thousands – but it was only Naya whom she wanted to impress.

After running through the number several times, Ryan announced that they had a forty-five-minute break to get into hair and makeup. "Get a drink, take a breather. Heather – hurry up and get in costume as well, please."

Heather widened her eyes at Naya guiltily and giggled. Naya took her hand as everyone dispersed, wandering to their water bottles and off the set.

"Come on, Hemo, let's get that dress on you," Naya said, squeezing Heather's fingers.

"Hey Heather!" Dianna called from the stage, and Heather turned in time to see Dianna give her a quick wink and a smile. Heather grinned back at Dianna and put a finger to her lips. She wasn't ready to announce anything to the cast at large yet, especially not with Ryan and the crew standing around.

Naya led Heather past racks of Cheerios uniforms and Tina's dark ensembles and stopped at a rack that held only one dress. "This must be yours, Miss Hit-the-Snooze," she said, pulling it off the shelf and handing it to Heather with a smile. "Let's go," she said, fingers tickling Heather's waist as she pushed her gently toward the door from behind.

They hurried across the lot and into Heather's trailer, giggling, and closed the door behind. Heather stripped off her t-shirt and sweats as Naya unzipped the dress on the hanger for her. As Heather reached for the dress, she grabbed only air – Naya was holding the dress off to one side, staring at the blond. She was biting her lower lip with a smile, glancing down at Heather's chest and back up to her face.

Heather grinned. "You are so transparent, Rivera," Heather said, trying to snatch the dress from Naya's hand. "Are you gonna make me stand here naked?"

"Maybe," Naya said, considering. "You're not really naked, though…"

"Close enough," Heather said. She watched as Naya took a step closer and tan fingers moved gently around her waist. Naya looked up at her with her eyes only, suddenly shy. Heather put a finger under her chin, and then Heather's lips were on hers and they were kissing slowly, Heather's hand cupping the back of Naya's neck. Her body was humming; already she wanted to reach back and unzip Naya's dress.

"Heather," Naya gasped as Heather kissed softly down her jaw.

"Mmm?" Heather mumbled against her skin.

Naya's hands gripped Heather's bare back. "I…" she said breathlessly, trailing off.

"What is it?" Heather asked between kisses, smiling.

"I'm so happy," Naya said simply, clinging to her.

Heather felt a thrill run through her body at Naya's words, and she pulled back to look into Naya's brown eyes. She slowly pulled the brunette into a tight hug, arms circling her shoulders, lips just behind her ear. "I can't believe this is happening," she whispered.

"Me neither," Naya whispered back, one hand running softly over the golden hair falling down the taller girl's back.

"What are we gonna do about everyone else?" Heather asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, are we gonna tell them?"

"I don't know." Naya's voice hummed against Heather's chest. "Do you want to?"

Heather thought for a second. "I don't know," she said honestly. "I mean, what are we gonna tell them? What are we?"

"I don't know. I guess we're not anything…yet," Naya said truthfully.

"I guess not."

Naya reached up to run the backs of her fingers down Heather's cheek. "You're so beautiful," she breathed, and Heather closed her eyes, her stomach flip-flopping.

"Not as beautiful as you," she said, and Naya kissed her softly on the lips, palm cupping her cheek. They stood with foreheads touching. Heather could barely breathe with the closeness.

"I don't even know what to think about all this," Naya whispered. "It's just…it's like it's all been there, but I never really thought about it before, you know?"

"Yeah," Heather breathed. Then: "It feels right, though?"

"Yes," Naya said, circling Heather's waist with her arms to draw the blond closer. "Just different."

"Can I take you out tonight?" Heather asked suddenly.

"_Out _out? Like on a date?"

"Yeah, like that."

"I would love that," Naya whispered.

They stood there, breathing quietly, barely inches apart, for a full minute. Heather ran her hands softly up and down Naya's arms.

"We should go to makeup before Ryan kills us," she sighed eventually. "We'll talk more when I'm not naked." She reached for her dress with a smile.

Naya just curled her lips into a one-sided grin in response.

"_Diiii_," Heather whined over the phone at 6:18 that evening.

She was standing half-naked in the middle of her room, curling iron in hand, phone held between her ear and shoulder. Half of her hair fell in curls.

"_What's wrong now, Hemo?"_

"I don't know what to wear and my hair is a mess. One of my curls is super tight and one is super loose and it just looks all wrong. Should I wear lipstick? Should I wear a dress?"

"_Re-curl your hair and stop worrying. You always look cute no matter what. Yes on the lipstick, but not too much. Do you have any new clothes that Naya hasn't seen yet?"_

"Maybe…I have a new pair of black jeggings and this lacy top that I haven't worn yet…"

"_Perfect," _Dianna said. _"Eeee, I'm so excited for you!" _she squealed. _"I mean honestly, I can't really believe this is happening, but yay! Wait 'til everyone else finds out…they're gonna be so excited."_

"And shocked…" Heather said.

"_Eh. Maybe not. Now that it's happening, I'm sort of surprised I didn't see it coming. Always the two-shot, you two."_

"We're not ready to tell anyone else yet, so keep your lips sealed. And tell Lea to keep it on the DL too."

"_Okay, okay, I promise we won't tell anyone about the wild sex you guys are having."_

"Di!" Heather said, and Dianna laughed.

"_Kidding. No but actually….have you…?"_

"…no," Heather said. "We haven't. We hooked up the other day, though," she admitted. "On the couch…and in the kitchen…"

"_Well, make sure you use a condom," _Dianna said seriously.

"Shut up. I wanna punch you right now."

Dianna laughed. _"I'm happy for you though, Hemo. I really am. Just be careful. Be careful with your heart. And with Naya's too, okay?"_

"I'm always careful," Heather said, attempting to wind some hair around her curling iron without dropping the phone. "Sometimes to a fault. Remember Jase?"

"_I know you are," _Dianna said, choosing not to comment on Heather's ex-boyfriend from a few months ago. She'd broken up with him after realizing that her job wouldn't allow her to spend enough time with him.

"And the one before him? Liam?"

"_Is he the one...?" _

"So afraid of losing him that I broke up with him before he could break up with me. Now how fucked is that."

"_Just be careful. You'll be okay."_

"Okay. I'm gonna go before I burn an ear off or something. I'm curling."

"_Okay, have fun. Text me later. Love you."_

"Love-you-bye."

Forty-five minutes later, Heather locked the door of her apartment behind her and made her way downstairs, blond hair bright against a navy blazer, legs long and thin in black jeggings, lips a rosy red against pale skin. She was feeling pretty good.

Heather felt her breath catch a little bit when Naya opened her door; she was stunning in a cream blouse tucked into burnt orange pants, her black hair falling in loose waves.

"Hey," Heather breathed, a little dazed.

"Hey." Naya closed the door behind her, put her hands on Heather's face and leaned in for a quick kiss. She smiled. "What do you have planned for us tonight?"

"Well," Heather said, offering her arm to Naya as they walked down the hall. "That's a very good question. I guess you'll just have to wait and see."

Heather took Naya to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant that she and her friend Ashley had discovered a few years back when they got lost coming home from a concert one night. It was a quaint place, a little bit cramped, with lots of differently shaped tables squished into the main room. Even though it was the middle of January, they hadn't gotten around to taking down all of their Christmas decorations; kitschy toy soldiers were scattered around and an assortment of ornaments hung from the ceiling. It was a quirky place.

"Isn't it _great?" _Heather said happily, as she and Naya sat down at a circular table near one of the big front windows.

"It's adorable," Naya agreed. "It's so _you_."

Heather beamed at her. The two of them sat with their arms folded on the table, unconsciously leaning towards one another.

Heather's heart was beating more quickly than usual. She felt nerves and excitement running up and down her body, and she fought the urge to move around or bounce her legs. She didn't want to seem too eager. She also couldn't stop smiling.

"You look beautiful," she said.

"Aww," Naya said, tilting her head and looking down at Heather's arms. She reached a hand over to slowly tease Heather's hand out from behind the elbow of her other arm. Heather let her take her hand so that it lay on the table between them. Tan fingers played lightly with pale ones. "Not as beautiful as you," Naya said quietly.

The two quickly realized that, since Naya was a lefty and Heather was right-handed, they could eat fairly successfully while holding hands across the small table. They giggled every time one of them needed both hands and they had to break their hold, only to return to it soon after.

During dinner, they wondered about the potential reactions of their cast mates to the news of their new dating status. Overall supportive, they imagined. Heather didn't tell Naya that Dianna already knew about them.

"I don't mean to rush things or anything; I'm just thinking out loud here," Naya said, "but, have you thought about like…the media finding out?"

"Not really," Heather said truthfully. "I haven't really thought that far ahead. I'm kind of stuck in our own little bubble right now."

Naya squeezed her hand. "If we were…_official_…we wouldn't have to be public about it, you know. We could always keep it a secret from the outside world. No one would have to know."

Heather nodded. The thought of her relationship going public – her relationship with a _girl, _her _cast mate, _nonetheless – had her feeling suddenly very nervous.

Their waiter came to clear their plates. Heather ordered them both a glass of wine, not letting go of Naya's hand.

"Just something to, you know, just think about," Naya said casually after the waiter had walked away, not ready to drop the conversation yet.

"Yeah. Nay, do your parents know you like girls?" Heather asked, her brow furrowed.

"No," Naya said. "It's…never come up. I've never felt the need to _bring_ it up. I mean, all the little crushes I've had on girls in the past have been like, just little blips. I just kind of ignored the feelings, mostly because I never had a chance to act on them. I've never even like, considered myself bi or anything. I just…sometimes liked girls, and it was never anything big enough to actually make me stop and think seriously. You know?" She tilted her head uncertainly at Heather. "But I've never been afraid of those feelings."

"Yeah, no, I mean, that's kind of how I was, too," Heather said. "I guess I went through a phase where I wasn't sure about who I liked. But then I had a couple boyfriends after that, and I really liked them, so I stopped thinking about it. But then it came back. With you."

"Does it scare you?" Naya asked quietly.

"A little," Heather admitted. "I mean, the thought of a relationship does, I guess. And what it would mean to tell people. I guess I'd have to re-examine myself."

Naya rubbed circles with her thumb on the back of Heather's hand. "There's nothing wrong with re-examination. That's what life is about. Always getting to know yourself better."

Heather gave Naya a small smile. "It's just, it's a big thing, you know?"

"I know."

Heather looked into Naya's eyes. "But listen, just because it's scary, it doesn't mean I'm questioning what we're doing or what I'm feeling. I really wanted this, Nay. I _do _want this. Whatever _this_ is." She smiled, gesturing in the air. "This date." She took Naya's hand again. "You."

"I really wanna kiss you right now," Naya whispered.

Heather smiled. They had slowly gravitated across the table towards one another again, their faces barely twelve inches apart.

"Me too," she whispered back. "But you know how I feel about PDA."

Naya groaned and made a face.

"And I would suggest we hit up the bathroom," Heather winked, "but they're about to start the poetry slam." She nodded her head toward the opposite side of the restaurant.

"Poetry slam?" Naya asked, turning around to look. Against the wall behind her, people were setting a couple of tall stools behind standing microphones. The other patrons in the restaurant were re-arranging themselves so that they could see better.

Heather gestured for Naya to scoot her chair around next to her.

"Hea-_ther_, so _fancy_," Naya said, settling beside her. She reached over and slipped her fingers against Heather's palm, and the blond held Naya's hand in both of hers on her lap. "I didn't know you were into poetry slams."

"Well, Ashley and I accidentally stumbled upon one the last time we were here, and it turned out to be totally awesome, so I thought you might enjoy it too. Just for something different."

"Definitely! This is great. I'm really excited," Naya said, smiling. She scooted even closer to Heather so that their shoulders were touching. "This is an amazing first date," she said quietly in Heather's ear.

"And it's nowhere near over yet," Heather said with a grin.

To Heather's delight, Naya was chosen to be one of the three judges of the slam. Before the first poet performed, he announced their tradition of choosing three people who "know nothing about poetry" to be the "official" judges. Heather had lifted Naya's hand excitedly into the air as Naya laughed. Now the brunette sat with a small dry-erase board and a marker in hand, ready to give each poet a score on a 1-10 scale.

Naya had a blast, pretending to confer with Heather seriously, writing in scores down to the third decimal place just to be funny, insisting at one point that one poet was "without a doubt an 8.739." She had everybody laughing, and the rest of the audience got really into the scoring as well, giving extra whistles for their favorite performances.

Heather couldn't take her eyes off Naya, watching her as she carefully considered the poets. She couldn't get enough of her; the way she laughed, and the way she knew how to make everyone else laugh. She loved her so much in that moment, and it scared her.

When the slam was over, the winner stood to thank everyone for coming. "And a big thank-you to our fabulous judges with their outstanding wit and critical eye. And especially the attention given to the _smallest _decimal-point detail by our lovely couple over by the window," the man said, winking at Naya and Heather.

Heather and Naya laughed and clapped, but Heather's eyes shifted nervously to Naya's as soon as the man said the word "couple." She didn't think they'd been that obvious. Did the man know they were on a date? But surely no one here knew who they were.

"Hi there, excuse me," a woman approached them as they were pushing their chairs back to their place at the table. "Aren't you two from the tv show 'Glee'?" She had a big smile on her face.

"Yeah," the girls said at the same time.

"My daughter loves the show so much. She's thirteen. I just wanted to let you know that. You two are so cute together!"

Naya and Heather laughed a little. "Thanks," Naya said, and Heather followed up with, "Glad you like the show."

The woman shook their hands warmly and left with a smile.

"Okay, so…maybe we're more recognizable than we thought," Naya said, as she linked arms with Heather and they made their way out the door.

"Yeah…" Heather said nervously, and Naya took her hand instead, walking so close that their shoulders kept grazing one another as they walked.

"So what'd you think?" Heather asked, wanting to change the subject.

"It was epic," Naya said. "So much fun. I haven't had that much fun in a long time. And the poetry was amazing. I feel like they were all speaking from experience."

"Definitely. It makes it feel so real," Heather agreed.

"Yeah, it was really powerful," Naya said thoughtfully. "I loved it."

Heather drove Naya back to her place in a comfortable silence. She had managed to push all of her nerves about the woman who had approached them out of her head for the time being. There would be time to think about all that later. She was nearly trembling with happiness at how perfect their night had been.

Heather walked Naya up to her apartment, holding Naya's hand in hers. Naya got out her key and unlocked the door. Without a word she took Heather's hand and pulled her in behind her, placed her keys and clutch on the table next to her, and gently but firmly pushed Heather up against the door. With brown eyes locked on blue, she reached her arms up to circle the blond's neck, and then she pressed her lips to Heather's.

They kissed slowly but urgently, seriously but with a hint of desperate need. Heather gasped as Naya's tongue slid into her mouth, meeting her own, wet and warm. Naya let out a small moan of contentment as Heather pulled her closer, their bodies pressing flush against one another, and slipped her leg between Naya's, bending her knee slightly so that her thigh pressed up into Naya's center.

Heather began tugging at the bottom of Naya's shirt, causing it to come untucked. She slipped her hands underneath the fabric, feeling the smooth skin of Naya's waist. Naya reached a hand down to lift her own shirt off, but Heather's hands were already pulling the blouse up and over her head. She tossed Naya's shirt aside, captured Naya's lips with her own and shrugged off her blazer without breaking their kiss. She walked Naya slowly backward until she was against the kitchen counter, and then, with her hands on her waist, lifted her so that she was sitting on the countertop.

Naya tugged at Heather's shirt. Before Heather had even managed to pull it off, Naya's fingers were undoing Heather's belt buckle and unzipping her pants with quick, shaky fingers. She reached her hands back up to Heather's face and kissed her deeply, desperately, fingers sliding through blond hair. Heather unclasped the brunette's bra and dropped it on the floor beside them. Naya, perched on the very edge of the counter, wrapped her legs around Heather's waist. Heather's legs were against the counter, her body pressed as close as she could get it against Naya's.

"Take me to bed," Naya gasped against Heather's lips.

Without a word, Heather wrapped her arms around the small girl and lifted her off the counter. She carried her out of the kitchen and toward the hallway, Naya kissing down her neck as they went.

In the bedroom, Heather pulled off her already unzipped pants and underpants as Naya stripped off her own. They fell into bed, and Heather moved so that she was on top of Naya, straddling one of Naya's legs, pressing her own thigh against the heat of Naya's wet center, kissing her.

Naya moaned and moved her hips upward into Heather's thigh. Heather matched her rhythm, grinding her thigh gently into the space between Naya's legs.

"_Oh." _Nails gripped Heather's back. "Heather, touch me," Naya whispered shakily.

Heather slid a hand up Naya's body to palm her breast firmly, sucking her other nipple into her mouth. Naya moaned and arched up into her. Heather continued to lightly flick her tongue over Naya's nipple as she moved her right hand slowly downward, caressing Naya's flat stomach, rubbing slow circles on her hip, below her belly button.

"_Heather, please,"_ Naya whispered.

Heather moved her hand down further, sliding her fingers over a soft cloud of hair, and then carefully into warm, wet folds, sliding one finger over the brunette's slick entrance and up further to the little button at the top, which she circled gently with the pad of her middle finger.

Naya gasped and tensed, arching her back. _"Oh,"_ she moaned, a tiny sound.

Heather continued to rub, watching Naya's face, eyes closed tight, mouth open, breathing hard, black hair splayed on the pillow. She watched as her breath started to catch and then come out in shaky breaths, only for her to gasp again. Suddenly Heather felt Naya's fingers circle her wrist, guiding her hand lower. Heather kept a thumb on Naya's clit and slowly slipped two fingers into her center, warm and slick and tight around her digits. Naya didn't let go of her wrist, just gripped her tightly as Heather moved her fingers in and out.

After a couple minutes, she felt Naya begin to tremble beneath her. _"Don't stop," _the brunette gasped, and Heather increased her speed. _"Oh, don't stop. Don't stop…" _Naya began pulling Heather's wrist toward her body, forcing her fingers in as deep as they would go. Heather curled her fingers slightly, and Naya threw her head back, crying out, fingers digging into Heather's wrist and the other hand gripping her hair. Heather felt Naya's walls tighten around her fingers, and she nearly came herself, watching Naya as her body tensed in an arch and then fell gently back to the bed.

Naya opened her eyes to look at Heather. She pulled her in for a kiss. "Oh my god," she whispered as Heather slipped off of her to lie next to her. She put her head in the space between Heather's neck and shoulder. "Can I just rest for a minute…that was amazing…"

Heather lay there, feeling Naya's breath ghost across her chest for several minutes. She closed her eyes, torn between wanting Naya to wake up and wanting to let her sleep. Slowly she drifted off as well, never wanting Naya's body to leave hers.

**A/N: Just a note to clear something up – Ashley, Heather's (real-life) roommate, is not her roommate in this fiction. Just a friend. **

**Hope you liked this chapter, dear readers. Tell me your thoughts and emotions. Because I think we all have a lot of feelings. **


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Dearest readers, first of all, thank you so much for your wonderful, inspiring comments. Each one is truly appreicated, as is each one of you. Secondly, apologies for the delay. Sadly, this is what happens when you're a senior in college trying to graduate with a respectable GPA. ;) But, here we are with the next installment!**

Chapter 8

"Boo!"

Naya let out a tiny scream and a laugh as Heather's arms snaked around her waist from behind and lifted her into a spin. She let her down gently, and Naya turned in her arms to face her.

"Crazy girl," she said, and Heather grinned.

It was the end of a long day, and they were standing on set, waiting to receive their scripts for an upcoming episode. Rumor had it there was a Brittana scene coming up, although none of the actors ever knew anything for sure until they had their scripts. She'd heard it had something to do with Gwyneth. Heather hoped so. She loved scenes with Naya.

As they waited, she contemplated holding Naya's hand, but she wasn't sure if she should, since there were so many people in the room. Instead she just nudged the back of her hand against Naya's wrist a few times and winked at her.

Heather wanted to be near her all the time. Every time they were apart, she felt an empty sort of sinking feeling in her stomach. She wanted to hold her hand, touch her face, run her fingers through her hair, bury her face in her clothes and breathe in that delicious Naya-smell. There were so many things she wanted to talk about with Naya. She wanted to know her opinion on _everything – _on life, on God, on Obama, on cats, on the set lighting, on the spider living in the corner of her bathroom. _Everything. _If she could spend every minute of every day with her, it still wouldn't be enough.

"Naya…Heather…" Brad walked by, handing out scripts. "Intense scene for you two. Go crazy."

Heather quirked her eyebrows up at Naya, and they headed back to their respective trailers to change and grab their stuff before heading home.

Outside, the sun had set long ago. The only lights in the parking lot came from trailer windows and some flashlights carried by various crew members. Under cover of darkness, Heather felt secure enough to slip an arm around Naya's waist and whisper above her ear, "I think it's about time Santana figured out that she's head-over-heels for Britt, don't you?"

Naya giggled. "Oh, I think she already knows, deep down. She knows she can't live without you." She slipped her arm around Heather's waist and rested her head on her shoulder as they walked slowly, linked together.

"I think Britt's been in love with Santana since the first time she set eyes on her back in kindergarten," Heather said.

"Pfft, you can't fall in love when you're five," Naya said.

"No? Come on, she couldn't help herself," Heather said as they slowed to a stop in front of her trailer. "Those adorable black pigtails…" she glanced around to see if anyone was wandering by. "That feisty little scowl…" she pushed Naya gently up against the side of her trailer.

Naya grinned. "Heather…"

"There's no one around," Heather whispered, one arm slipping around Naya's waist.

Naya bit her lip with a slight smile, craned her neck to check over the taller girl's shoulder, and then pressed her lips against Heather's.

It felt so good to kiss Naya that Heather didn't care who walked by. The entire cast and crew could have wandered over, set up lights and camera, and filmed them for all she cared. She never wanted to stop.

Her fingers played with the bottom of Naya's cheerio top. It was too tight and the fabric wasn't stretchy enough; she could barely get her palm against her skin. She groaned quietly in annoyance and just moved her hand up, over the fabric, to cup Naya's breast, kneading gently as she kissed her. After a few seconds, Naya broke their kiss to catch her breath, exhaling against Heather's lips.

"We should stop," she said, a little breathlessly.

"Yeah," Heather said, and kissed her again. "But I don't want to."

Naya smiled against Heather's lips. "Me neither," she whispered, and then her tongue was in Heather's mouth, one hand on the small of her back, the other gripping behind her shoulders, pulling her against her.

"Mm, Nay," Heather whispered, one hand trailing up Naya's thigh, parting the panels of her red skirt.

"Okay, _okay, _enough!_"_ Naya whispered, smiling. She pushed Heather's hand away and squirmed out from her spot between Heather and the trailer.

She clambered up the flimsy trailer steps, but Heather, standing on the bottom step, caught her before she could pull open the door. She grabbed her wrist and tugged so that Naya spun around and bent slightly at the waist, her face at a level with Heather's, and then she kissed her again. Naya didn't really resist, just put her free hand on Heather's face as their lips moved against one another's.

"Hemo! Naya! Is that you?" Kevin's voice rang out from a couple trailers away.

The two girls jumped apart, Heather stumbling off the bottom step but quickly regaining her balance.

"Hey, Kev," she said too quickly, too casually. "What's up?"

"Hey, Little Bee," Naya said, as Kevin approached them.

"Just headin' out. Whadda you two doing?" Kevin cocked a suspicious eyebrow at them.

"Same, just getting our stuff," Heather shrugged nervously.

Kevin's lips twitched upward on one side. "Oh, okay," he said. "Well, I'll see you two bright and early tomorrow!" He wandered off towards his car.

"That was close!" Heather hissed as she and Naya made their way into her trailer.

"Yeah, but it's just our Bee. Would it really matter if he knew?" Naya asked, unzipping her cheerios top and pulling it over her head.

"I guess not," Heather said. She stepped out of her shirt and pulled a pair of sweats on. "I just… I'm getting nervous about people finding out. I don't want everyone talking…."

"But they're not _people, _they're our friends. They wouldn't go shouting it at the paparazzi or talking about it in interviews or anything…" Naya reasoned.

"No, I know, I just_…_"

"Look," Naya said, zipping her sweatshirt up and walking over to rest her hands on Heather's waist. "It's okay. We don't have to tell anyone unless you're ready. I know you're a private person. I am, too."

"Actually, I kind of have to tell you something…" Heather said sheepishly, turning guiltily away to flop on the couch.

"Oh?" Naya said. She sat down next to Heather, curled her legs up underneath her. "What is it?"

"Dianna knows about us. And…Lea _kind of _knows." Heather looked up at Naya tentatively. To her surprise, a slow smile spread over Naya's face.

"When did you tell them?" she asked.

"Well, Dianna's known since like…the morning after your birthday party. And Lea's known since we went to the club. You're not mad?" she asked nervously.

Naya smiled and kissed her cheek. "No, I'm not mad," she said, and squeezed Heather's hand. "You're cute."

Heather smiled shyly at her. "I guess it wouldn't be so bad to tell our friends," she said. "I mean, the rest of them."

"Whenever you're ready," Naya said.

* * *

><p>Naya had been spending nearly every night at Heather's place lately. Heather never wanted her to leave. After a day of shooting, they would drive back to Heather's, and together they would cook an easy dinner.<p>

Afterwards, they would lie together on the couch watching television, Naya curled in Heather's arms, or they'd run lines together.

Lately, Heather didn't like practicing the Brittana scenes together. Now that Santana had admitted her feelings to Brittany, the two characters were struggling to stay on the same page. Heather hated running through the scene at the locker, the one in which Santana tells Brittany that she loves her. A couple times, when they weren't laughing or having too much fun goofing off, Naya actually started crying in Heather's living room as she delivered her lines. Heather hated Brittany's response: "Of course I love you; I do. And I would totally be with you if it weren't for Artie…"

Every time Santana looked at her with those heartbroken eyes, her heart clenched. She wanted to start crying, tell her she didn't know what she had been thinking, that of _course _she would be with her. But that wasn't in the script.

One time, Naya had choked out her line, "_Artie_?" with tears on her face, and Heather's face had crumpled and she'd pulled Naya into her arms.

"Hemo!" Naya had laughed, playfully fighting against her. "You ruined the scene! Those were real tears!"

"Sorry," Heather had said quietly into Naya's hair, refusing to let her go.

Naya's laugh had faded out, and she kissed Heather to reassure her.

They had ended up on the floor beside the couch, Naya breathing heavily, Heather's lips pressing gentle kisses all over her face, her hands all over her body, in her hair, inside her. Heather kept her eyes on Naya's the whole time as she hovered over her, her eyebrows drawn up in the middle, carefully moving with Naya. Afterwards, she lay with her head on Naya's chest. Naya stroked her hair.

"Heather, baby," she whispered. "It's okay…"

Heather didn't say anything.

* * *

><p>"And cut," Ryan called out.<p>

"Excellent scene, you two. Naya, _great _job with the tears. That was so real. And Heather, perfect expression. Really great. You two are naturals with this Brittana business," Brad complimented them.

Naya wiped the tears from her eyes. They both smiled, and then walked over to join the rest of the cast, who were draped tiredly over their chairs, some with their computers open on their laps.

"Really nice job, ladies," Dianna said, giving them a knowing smile. "Brad was right. You two are naturals." Heather expected her to wink, but she didn't.

"You were watching?" Heather asked her.

"Oh we were all watchin' you two lovebirds," Kevin called, teasing them.

"Don't tease," Amber said, whapping Kevin gently on the arm. "You two are adorable," she said to Naya and Heather.

"Yeah, good job on the tears, Nay," Jenna said.

"You all know crying on demand is my specialty," Naya said.

Dianna slipped a hand loosely around Heather's wrist. "Have you told Kevin?" she asked her quietly. "Or Amber?"

"Di," Lea hissed from her chair next to Dianna. She widened her eyes at her. "Don't you think we should keep it on the DL until otherwise informed?"

"Tell me what?" Kevin asked, suspicious. "Nay-Nay, you keepin' secrets from me?"

Lea rolled her eyes and looked at Dianna as if to say, _See?_

"Nothing, it's nothing," Dianna began, but Heather interrupted her.

"Actually, we do have something we'd like to tell you guys," she said, dragging her chair closer to her friends before sitting down. Her heart sped up a little with nervousness.

Everyone looked up, and some people scooted closer, so that they were more or less gathered around Heather in a little group.

"Everything okay?" Amber said, looking a little concerned.

Heather took a breath. "Yeah," she said. Naya was standing next to her, watching her carefully. She took her hand. "It's good news, actually. Um, Naya and I are...dating." She held her breath, waiting for a response.

Most of the cast looked at them with a smile of part-surprise, part-disbelief, part-delight. Amber leaned forward as if she hadn't heard correctly.

"Wait, what? Hold up. Dating?" she asked, her smile widening.

"Yeah," Naya said, nodding, a huge grin on her face. "Dating."

"You're _dating?" _Kevin said.

"Uh huh," Naya and Heather nodded.

"Wait, _what?"_ Kevin said_, _and Lea cut in.

"Dating, Kevin. _Da-ting. _You heard them. Kissing, cuddling, all that good stuff." She rolled her eyes at the rest of the cast, and they all grinned.

"Wait up, are you sayin' Lea knew about this before I did? That's a low blow, Nay-Nay. I thought we were tight, yo."

"Oh shut up, Bee. Besides, Heather's to blame for that, not me," Naya said.

"Aww, shoot," Kevin said, one hand hiding his grin. "This is too cute. You two are too cute. Come here," he beckoned them forward and squashed them in an awkward hug, and eventually everyone else joined in, laughing.

"How long has it been?" Jenna asked.

"A couple weeks," Heather answered.

"Remember Naya's birthday party? Spin-the-bottle?" Dianna added, and Jenna formed a silent "Ohh" with her mouth and smiled. "Yeah," Dianna said, grinning.

"And needless to say, we'd like to keep this private, for now at least," Naya said, and Heather slipped an arm around her waist.

"Got it," Kevin said.

"Lips are sealed," Amber agreed.

"Congrats, you guys," Jenna said with a sweet smile.

Heather and Naya grinned like fools. Heather felt warm and happy when Naya ran a hand up and down her back, smiling at her.

* * *

><p>That evening, Heather sat curled in the big comfy armchair in her living room, eyes closed. Naya had insisted on doing the dishes and letting Heather rest after their long day, and Heather had reluctantly agreed after making Naya promise that she would let her do them tomorrow night.<p>

She felt good about telling their friends about herself and Naya, but there was a tiny bead of anxiety burrowed in the pit of her stomach. She could feel it every so often. It was an ominous feeling, like when you first start feeling sick and you know the flu is coming on. Once she started thinking about it, it got worse. She thought about telling her parents. She imagined everyone in her life finding out through the media.

_It's not that big a deal, _she told herself, but inside she knew it was. It _was_ a big deal to her. She wasn't sure who she was right now. _What _she was. She knew what she felt, but it was like she was caught between two places, two identities. _Labels aren't necessary_, she told herself, but at the same time, she thought she might feel more secure if she _could _label herself and her feelings.

She sighed and crossed her arms loosely over her stomach, curled slightly in the big chair. She heard Naya turn the water off, flip the light in the kitchen, and make her way into the living room.

"You asleep, baby?" she asked quietly, sitting down on the arm of the chair.

Heather shook her head. She scooted closer to Naya, still curled up.

"Hey," Naya said, gently stroking a hand down the side of Heather's head. "You okay?"

Heather nodded. "A little nervous," she said honestly.

"About telling everyone, you mean?" Naya asked, her hand smoothing back blond hair.

"Yeah," Heather said. She reached a hand up, traced light circles on Naya's thigh. "And other people finding out."

"Baby," Naya said. She carefully slid from the arm of the chair onto one knee beside Heather. Heather adjusted, and Naya swung the other knee over her. She sat gently on Heather's lap, her hands on Heather's cheeks. "I was so proud of you today," she whispered, and kissed Heather's forehead. "I'm so happy," she kissed her again, "to be with you."

"I'm sorry I'm so nervous, Nay," Heather said. "I'm sorry. I want this so much, and I feel like I'm making a big deal out of nothing."

"Baby," Naya whispered, tucking Heather's hair behind her ear.

She kissed her slowly, sweetly, on her lips, her jaw, her neck. Heather felt so much at once, she thought she was going to burst with love, with happiness, with desire. Her chest felt full and the place between her legs throbbed.

Naya was gentle with her. She slipped Heather's shirt over her head, unclasped her bra and slid it down her arms. She ran a hand over her shoulder, kissed her collarbone, rubbed soft fingertips over her nipples. She pushed Heather back against the chair gently, took a nipple into her mouth, sucked it to a point.

Heather let herself feel everything. Every touch burned until she felt it deep inside herself. She let her hands run softly over Naya's skin. After a while, she tugged at Naya's shirt, and Naya took it off herself, and then her bra, before moving on to the other nipple, swirling her tongue around the bud. Everything was in slow motion, building inside her. She buried her fingers in Naya's hair and arched into her mouth, pressing against her. She shivered as Naya's teeth grazed her nipple.

Slowly, Naya slipped off of the chair to kneel in front of Heather, kissing slowly down her taut abs as she did so, running her tongue up the middle. Heather's breath came deeper and faster. Her nipples felt cold where Naya's mouth had been.

Naya's hands trailed down Heather's stomach and hooked the waistband of her sweatpants. Heather lifted her hips so Naya could pull them down and off of her legs. She put them to the side, ran her hands up Heather's long, muscular legs, kissed both of her knees. She ran her fingers along Heather's stomach, just above the waistband of her underpants.

Heather sat up, put a hand on Naya's face. Naya sat up on her knees and captured Heather's lips with her own, sliding her tongue inside her mouth. Heather deepened the kiss and moaned a little bit, the first sound she'd made yet. She scooted to the edge of the chair, so that Naya was between her thighs.

Naya broke the kiss to move down Heather's body, kissing here and there, sliding her tongue over her nipples again. She kissed down her abs and then peeled her underwear away, sliding them down her legs. Then she just knelt there and looked.

Heather fought the instinct to cover herself. She sat there, legs parted, vulnerable, breathing fast, wanting Naya to do something.

Naya ran her hands up and down the insides of Heather's thighs slowly, inching closer on her knees. She slid her palms underneath, wrapped her arms around Heather's thighs, and kissed up the inside of one of them.

Heather held her breath as Naya came closer. And then her mouth was there, hot against her wetness. It was like nothing she'd ever felt before. Naya's tongue slid slowly up her center a few times, and it felt so good she could hardly stand it. She locked her arms and leaned back on them, her back arched, head thrown back, long blond hair trailing down. She moaned.

Naya alternated between her center and the little bundle of nerves at the top. She slid her tongue inside of her and then used it to trace circles around her clit. She sucked gently with her lips, and Heather put one hand on the back of Naya's head, urging her into her.

"Right there," she breathed, sounding like she was in agony.

Heather gasped a tiny bit as Naya flattened her tongue over her clit and gently pressed two fingers inside of her. She held them there, curled them, slid her tongue repeatedly over Heather's clit, until Heather was lifting her hips, forcing Naya deeper and closer, again and again and again.

She moaned almost continuously, her head thrown back, right hand gripping Naya's hair. She moaned and almost cried, it felt so perfect. She felt her stomach tighten, deep and low in the back. "I'm close," she managed to say, and Naya dug in for the long haul, her fingers and tongue making wet sounds against her.

When she came, she fell back against the chair, one arm over her eyes, crying out. Naya continued to move inside her, gripping her thigh with her other hand, holding her there until she quieted. Heather felt tears spring to her eyes, burning.

Naya crawled up beside Heather on the chair. She sat, once again, on her lap, and pressed a kiss to her mouth. Heather could taste herself on Naya's lips.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Naya pulled away and rubbed a tear away from Heather's cheek.

"Nothing," Heather whispered. She pulled Naya into her, held her close. "It's perfect. _You're _perfect." She sighed, tightened her arms around Naya's warm skin. "I feel safe when you're here."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hey everyone! Happy belated Thanksgiving! So grateful for all of you. :)**

Chapter 9

Heather and Naya stood hand-in-hand in front of the door of Dianna's apartment, knocking loudly and spastically with the knuckles of their free hands.

"Open up! Police!" Heather shouted in a deep voice, and Naya laughed silently, nudging Heather with her elbow without pulling her fingers free of Heather's.

They heard the latch slide. The door opened a few inches, and a sliver of Dianna's face appeared.

"You're out of luck, Officer. I've already hidden the body," Dianna said in a sultry voice.

Heather pretended to launch herself at the door but only shouldered it open gently. "We've got a confession! Time to take you downtown!"

She chased Dianna a few steps into the front hall and caught her by the wrist. Lea, who was standing just inside, shrieked as Dianna collapsed to her knees, laughing, as Heather pulled her hands together behind her back, almost fell on top of her, and then wrapped her arms around her instead, laughing.

"I told you we'd be caught eventually, Di," Lea laughed, closing the door and taking Naya's coat from her.

"Hemo, you dork," Naya said, holding a hand out to help Heather up from the floor. "Didn't your mother ever tell you it's impolite to arrest the hostess?"

Heather untangled herself from Dianna and then sideways high-fived Naya's outstretched palm.

"Good work, Rivera. Knew we'd get 'em sooner or later," she said seriously and then burst into laughter as Dianna tickled her sides from behind. "All right, all right, stop, I'll throw up!"

She flapped her hands at Dianna desperately and scooted away from her, backwards, right into Naya's legs. Naya pulled her up with two arms under her armpits.

"Thanks for having us over, ladies," Naya said.

"Glad you could come!" Lea said happily, giving them both a quick squeeze.

"Heather…" Dianna said, one side of her mouth quirking up in a smile as she stood.

"What?" Heather asked, grabbing Naya's hand and pulling her towards the kitchen. "You guys got foods?"

"Foods are on the counter, wine is in the fridge," Lea said as she and Dianna followed them down the hall.

Dianna pulled a bottle of red wine out of the refrigerator. "_Hea_ther," she repeated. "Have you seen the Access Hollywood interview?" She pulled a corkscrew from a drawer and stuck it into the cork.

"Mmm…which one is that?" Heather asked. "You mean _my _interview?"

"Yeah, the one where you gush about Naya for like a minute straight," Dianna said with a smile, glancing over her shoulder as she twisted the corkscrew down.

"Ummm…" Heather said, her hand frozen on a wine glass.

"Wait, what is this?" Naya asked with a huge grin.

"You should've heard her, Nay," Lea said, poking once at Heather's side. She began to quote Heather playfully. "'She's just _so amazing_, she's been singing since she was like _three_, she's _incredible_, I love her _so much_, she's the sexiest woman I've ever –'"

"Okay hold up I did _not _say those last few things!" Heather said, making a face at Lea. "Oh my god, did I really gush about her?" she asked then, laughing embarrassedly with one hand hiding half her face. "Oh god, I did, didn't I?"

"Ohhh wait 'til you see the video," Dianna said.

"What, can't help yourself, Hemo?" Naya asked, squeezing Heather's waist with one hand, a glass of wine in the other.

Heather tried to think of a witty retort, but instead she rolled her eyes and pecked Naya on the cheek before pouring herself a glass of wine. "Guess not," she said.

She felt so secure at Dianna's that she barely thought twice about kissing Naya. It was a relief, since they generally avoided touching one another in public and even on set. It was really annoying, feeling like she couldn't hold Naya's hand when they walked down the street. She knew it was her own nerves that kept her from doing it, but she also knew that keeping their relationship fairly under wraps was the practical thing to do. It was just hard to hide her feelings, especially when they were such good ones.

"If you ladies will follow me into the living room, we've got a fabulous viewing area in the form of an air mattress and Dianna's laptop, on which we can all witness Heather Morris gush about her girlfriend," Lea said, leading them backwards out of the kitchen and back down the hall.

They all laughed, and hearing the word "girlfriend" was a surprise to Heather – but a pleasant one. She wanted to hear it again. Girlfriend. Naya was her girlfriend.

"Oh god, I can't _wait_ to see this," Naya said, and Heather groaned and laughed at the same time.

The four of them ended up spending a good couple of hours sprawled on the air mattress set up in the living room, watching interviews and video clips of themselves on Dianna's computer and stuffing themselves with popcorn and M&Ms. After finishing a bottle or two of wine, they were laughing uproariously at everything that came out of their mouths, picking fun at each other and at their absent fellow cast members.

Naya had gradually slipped closer to Heather as the night wore on. Eventually she was lying on her stomach, arms crossed on Heather's legs, chin resting on her hands. Heather teased her fingers through Naya's dark hair with one hand.

"Heathah and Naya, you two seem especially close this season," Lea said in a lofty British accent, holding an imaginary mic in front of their faces. "Can you address the suspicions about your relationship?"

"Well, Miss Port-ah," Heather said, tossing her hair over her shoulder and looking down her nose at Lea, immediately in character. "You certainly couldn't be talking about _this_ one, heah," she indicated Naya, lying innocently in her lap, "because we ahbsolutely de_spise _one anothah."

"I com_plete_lyagree, I cahn't even be al_one_ with the freakish blond one," Naya contributed. "She's way too tall and monstrously musculah. She's quite clumsy, you see, and I feah she may take my head off one of these days with her enormous flailing limbs."

"What even...?" Heather said, dropping the accent as they dissolved into laughter. "I'm not _that _clumsy!"

"I never did understand how someone as graceful as you are on the dance floor can be so clumsy just walking around," Lea said, and Heather scrunched her nose up in mock offense.

"You three…have _terrible _fake accents," Dianna gasped, which renewed their fit of giggles. "I mean, simply _disgraceful_."

They ended the night by watching _Black Swan, _with Heather and Naya on the air mattress, Heather's head in Naya's lap this time, and Lea and Dianna sprawled on the couch behind them. Naya was rubbing Heather's back under her shirt.

They all swooned over Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis.

"Oooohhh," Dianna teased Heather and Naya during the sex scene, nudging them playfully on the shoulders with her stockinged feet.

"Shut it, Agron," Naya said, slightly embarrassed, dodging Dianna's foot.

Heather squeezed her knee. "You know you think it's hot," she said to Dianna. She was secretly thrilled that she felt comfortable enough to joke about her own sexuality – or whatever she could call it – with Dianna and Lea.

"No argument there," Dianna admitted.

"_I _think it's _beautiful,_" Lea announced loudly, and Heather smiled hugely, her face turned toward the screen.

Later that night, after Lea and Dianna had passed out on the couch with their heads on either end, Heather and Naya lay together on the now partly deflated air mattress, their bodies forming a depression in the center. They lay facing one another, inches apart, hands stroking each other's back gently.

"I'm a little bit tipsy," Heather whispered in the dark, smiling.

"Me too," Naya said. "Whoops."

They giggled silently and scooted even closer. Heather pressed a kiss to Naya's nose.

"So people are talking," she sighed. "I guess I got carried away with that interview."

"I don't think that's the only reason people are talking," Naya whispered, her breath soft against Heather's face. "But you are incredibly cute when you gush about me."

Heather smiled. "Guess I couldn't help myself."

Naya kissed her upturned lips gently. "You're amazing," she said.

Heather found her eyes. They swam in and out of her vision, dark brown and cloudy in the dark. "Not as amazing as you."

"Are you okay with people talking?" Naya asked, very quietly.

Heather thought for a minute, took a breath, and then whispered, "Yeah, I am." She smiled a little. "I'm okay."

Naya smiled in reply and closed her eyes. Heather loved the way Naya's eyelashes brushed down and lay gently against the tops of her cheeks, two glimpses of black against her brown skin. They lay in silence for a moment.

"Naya," Heather whispered.

"Mm?"

"What do you think I am? Like, do you think I'm gay?"

Naya opened her eyes. "I can't answer that for you," she replied. "But didn't you say you liked boys before? Do you still find guys attractive?"

"Yeah."

"Then you're probably not gay," she said. "Right? Maybe bi?"

"Yeah, maybe."

"You don't have to label yourself, hon," Naya whispered, pushing Heather's hair behind her ear. "You know? You really don't."

"What are you?" Heather asked. "Are you anything?"

"I'm Naya," Naya said, smiling. She rested her hand on Heather's cheek and her forehead against Heather's. "And I love you."

Heather felt her stomach flutter at the words, and her body trembled a bit, just for a second. "I love you, too," she whispered.

Naya smiled gently and closed her eyes, curling into Heather's chest. They fell asleep to the sound of Lea and Dianna's gentle breaths on the couch above their heads.

* * *

><p>"I think I'm gonna tell my mom," Heather told Naya out of the blue a week or so later. She'd been thinking about it nonstop ever since Naya had told her she loved her.<p>

They were sitting on the edge of the stage in the McKinley High auditorium, taking a break between shots. They both had a bottle of water in their hands and were sipping carefully so as not to mess up their makeup.

Heather was really close to her mom. Every time she talked to her on the phone, she felt a little guilty for hiding something so important from her. She was also slightly worried that her mom would hear something or read something on the internet about her, and she didn't want it to happen that way. She wanted her to hear her side before she heard any rumors.

Naya raised her eyebrows a little and smiled.

"Really?" She took Heather's hand. "Are you sure?"

"I'm like 98.5% sure," Heather said. "I want her to know about you. I mean, she already knows how much I adore you."

"Heather…didn't you say she was kind of weirded out by the whole Brittany and Santana thing?" Naya pulled her legs up to sit cross-legged, facing Heather.

"Well, yeah, but…I'm just gonna explain to her how I feel. I'll tell her that I realized I actually like you as more than a friend, that you're my best friend but also more, and that you feel the same way, and that it took me a little by surprise, but it's how I feel and it makes me really happy," Heather said quickly and matter-of-factly. "I'll just tell her that it feels right."

The cast started to stand and begin to wander vaguely toward the stage again, stretching out muscles in preparation, but Naya and Heather continued to sit.

Naya squeezed Heather's hand. "When are you gonna do it?" she asked quietly.

"I don't know. Soon, hopefully. She's coming to visit me next weekend, so I was thinking maybe then." Heather's stomach swooped nervously when she thought about how soon that was.

"If you want me to be there, I will be," Naya said. "Just so you know."

Heather nodded. "I'm glad _your_ mom took the news okay."

Naya smiled. "Me too. I had a feeling she would. She's _really_ open about that kind of stuff. She's a very go-with-the-flow type of person, you know? She never gets too hung up on anything. I always wished I could be more like her."

"But you are," Heather said. "You've taken all this in stride…I wish _I _could be more like _you."_

"Don't. You're perfect the way you are." Naya smiled and kissed Heather on the cheek. "Everything's gonna be okay. I was nervous in the beginning, too. We both were. Don't worry."

Heather took a deep breath and smiled at her. "Okay. We'd better go, looks like we're starting again."

They grabbed hands and used each other as leverage to stand, grinning, and then hurried over to the group. Naya slapped Heather's butt playfully on the way to her place on stage and winked as she hurried past. Heather grinned happily after her.

**Would love to hear your thoughts! As always, thanks so much for all reviews!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hey, lovely readers! My apologies for the delay in getting this chapter up. Finals week assaulted me. Thankfully, I am now on break and will hopefully have time to write (and maybe finish) this story. **

**Disclaimer: I don't know Heather's mom's name. A quick Google/Wikipedia/IMDB search provided no answer, so I just made one up!**

Chapter 10

"Hey Mom!" Heather answered her phone breathlessly.

She had her other hand on Naya's shoulder to hold her back gently. Naya grinned and giggled breathily, the corners of her eyes crinkling. They were standing between their cars on set after a day of shooting, and Naya was straining against Heather's hand, arms outstretched, trying to get close enough to continue kissing her neck.

Heather couldn't help but grin. "I'll be there in about twenty-five minutes. I'm so sorry, work ran late. I'll be there as soon as I can." She twisted to keep herself away from the girl in front of her.

Naya settled for poking Heather in the ribs, and Heather, ticklish, bent suddenly at the waist and swatted at her, making a face and trying not to laugh.

"Can't wait! See you soon! Love you!" she said, jumping backward as Naya chased her, fingertips out and wiggling threateningly. Heather looked down at her phone for a second to end the call and Naya collided with her, hands slipping into the warmth beheath Heather's open jacket and sliding around to her back. She attached herself to Heather's body, her head resting against her chest.

"Naya Rivera, you are terrible!" Heather said in mock criticism. "Interrupting my _very important _phone call – "

"And keeping you from picking your mother up on time," Naya cut in, smiling up at Heather. "'Work ran late, huh?'"

Heather growled and squeezed Naya tightly around her shoulders. "Well, I couldn't exactly be like, 'Oh, sorry Mom, I was about to leave when my girlfriend stuck her hand down my pants. Got a little distracted.'" She kissed Naya's head as the brunette giggled mischievously. "I gotta run. She's waiting at the airport. Meet you at the restaurant? Eight o'clock? You know where it is? You won't be late?"

"I won't be late, I promise," Naya said. She pressed a hand to Heather's heart, her palm cold over the thin t-shirt, and glanced up at Heather's face. "Your heart's beating so fast." She kissed Heather's lips lightly. "Hey. It's gonna be fine."

Heather wasn't sure if it was nerves or Naya's body pressed against hers that was making her heart beat a fast rhythm against her ribs. She took a deep breath to slow it, her chest rising against Naya's.

"Don't worry. I'll work my charm. How could she be upset that her daughter is dating someone like me?" Naya teased.

Heather smiled. She was planning on telling her mom that she and Naya were dating _after _dinner. She knew her mom would love Naya, and she was hoping that would soften the blow when she gave her the news later.

"We must think alike, because that's exactly why I'm bringing you," she said into Naya's hair, kissed her again, and added. "That and I just want to be with you every second of every day. Especially since you won't be sleeping over this weekend."

Heather was really excited to see her mom, but this would be the first weekend she'd be spending apart from Naya since they'd started dating. Her heart gave a little twinge at the thought, even though it was only two measly days.

Naya's lips drooped at the corners. "Sad," she whined, letting go of Heather and taking her hand instead, which she squeezed tightly. "But I'll see you soon. Drive safely. The airport's always crazy. I've gotta go get dolled up – " she kissed Heather's knuckles " – for your mom."

Heather grinned and opened her car door. "See you there," she said. "Curl your hair; I like it that way."

Naya grinned, closed Heather's door for her, and blew a kiss through the window.

* * *

><p>Heather drove twice around the busy airport in her car before she spotted her mom at the Southwest gate. She carefully squeezed her car in along the curb and hopped out, forgetting to shut her door in her excitement.<p>

"Mom!" She waved at a tall blond woman standing with a suitcase about fifteen feet away.

Her mom pointed at Heather in recognition, a huge smile on her face, and hurried over. She kissed Heather on the forehead and pulled her into a tight hug.

"How's my baby?" she said, tucking a lock of Heather's hair behind one ear and backing up slightly to look her up and down. "You look great," she said, pecking her daughter on the lips.

"I am great! I'm so glad you're here," Heather said, pushing the handle of her mom's suitcase down and lifting it into her trunk. "Go ahead and get in. It's cold out here."

As they drove back to Heather's place, her mom sent a barrage of typical motherly questions her way. "How's work going? What episode are you on now? How's the apartment? Are you keeping it clean? Do you go out with the cast a lot? Are you eating well? Are you getting enough sleep?"

Heather answered her happily, even though her mom asked most of these questions during their weekly conversations over the phone. Now that her mom was sitting right beside her, she tried to imagine telling her about herself and Naya. It felt impossible. She was glad she didn't have to do it yet. There were still a few hours to mentally prepare.

"I made us reservations at the Tea House tonight," Heather said as she unlocked the door to her apartment.

"Tea? You know how I feel about tea," her mom complained teasingly, making a face at her daughter. "I hope there's more than tea on the menu."

"Nope, sorry, nothing but tea," Heather replied, straight-faced, as she lugged her mom's suitcase into the guest bedroom. "Part of a new cleanse diet."

Her mom, accustomed to their playful banter, ignored her and sat down at the island in her kitchen. "Who did you say is coming? Naya?"

"Yep, Naya's coming," Heather yelled from the bedroom. "That okay?"

"Yeah, of course," her mom said.

Heather emerged from the bedroom and poured her mom a glass of water. She sat down across from her, took a breath, and smiled. "So glad you're here. I've missed you." She squeezed her mom's hand. "I'm gonna take a quick shower and get dressed. Naya's gonna meet us there at eight."

"Okay, honey. Now, remind me again. Naya plays…Santana, right?"

"Really, Mom? Yes, Naya plays Santana," she said, probably for the hundredth time. "She's my best friend on the cast. I talk about her all the time."

"Right, right. I know you do. Just making sure I'm putting the right face to the name."

"And you say you watch the show…" Heather said skeptically, with a slight smile.

"Hey, I _do_ watch! I watch every week. I just get a little forgetful sometimes. Your mother's getting old."

"Okay, well, Santana's in love with my character, Brittany. Remember?" she prompted her mom carefully.

"Right. I remember." Her mom nodded once and took a sip of water. "They're hooking up."

"Yeah, but they're in love," Heather pointed out. "Did you see the latest episode? Where Santana confesses her love for Britt?"

Her mom nodded again. "I did. And Brittany turned her down."

Heather stood up. "Yeah, but…it's just complicated. I still love her."

"Oh? Did Brittany tell you that herself?" her mom asked, turning toward her as she walked toward her bedroom.

"Yeah, she did! But even if she didn't, it's pretty obvious," Heather called from the hallway.

"I think she just wants to hook up with whoever she can get her hands on," her mom yelled after her. "That's how girls like that are."

"Mom!" Heather paused on her way to her room, but then decided it'd be best not to argue. She sighed loudly, ran a hand through her hair, and shut her door behind her.

* * *

><p>Two hours later, Heather and her mom squeezed into the warmth of the Tea House. It was a large, colorful room, with plants in every corner and a fountain in the middle. The walls and ceiling were painted with elaborate, intricate designs, and the huge windows gently reflected the lights inside.<p>

"Wow!" Heather's mom said, looking around. "This is very cool."

Heather smiled and looked around for Naya. It was very crowded. She was glad she'd made reservations, even if there were only three of them.

"Heather!" Naya was sitting on a low bench along the wall on the other side of the entrance area. Heather grinned excitedly as Naya slung her purse over one shoulder and made her way through the crowd toward them, a big smile on her face.

Naya looked stunning in tight black pants, heels, and a red sweater with a big floppy neckline, hair gently curled just like Heather liked and pulled to one side in a loose ponytail. Heather tried not to stare too hard as Naya approached. She was surprised to feel her chest fill with something like pride – she wanted to tell her mom right then and there that Naya was her girlfriend. She wanted to be able to kiss her on the lips.

"Hey, you made it!" Naya slipped a hand around Heather's waist and kissed her quickly on the cheek. She looked into Heather's eyes for a second and then looked to Heather's mom.

"This is my mom, Robin," Heather said happily, although she always felt slightly awkward during introductions. "Mom, this is Naya Rivera, a.k.a. my bestie, a.k.a. Santana Lopez."

Naya grasped Heather's mom's outstretched hand.

"But not such a bitch," she blurted, and then widened her eyes and put her other hand over her mouth, staring around at Heather, mortified for using that word in front of her mom.

Heather's mom, however, threw her head back and laughed, squeezing Naya's hand between both of her own. Naya smiled a little bit in relief, still biting her lip guiltily.

Heather wanted to pull her into her arms and kiss her to death for being so unbearably cute.

"You know, I can appreciate a little bit of sass," her mom told Naya. "I mean, you get used to it, having Heather as a daughter…"

Heather rolled her eyes and started to make her way toward the hostess. "Let's go sit."

* * *

><p>"I thought you said this was a tea place," Heather's mom said, leaning across the table and raising an eyebrow at Heather and Naya, who had both just ordered drinks.<p>

"Tea is for after dinner," Heather said, grinning at Naya.

"Long day at work, "Naya agreed, nodding. Her hand slid across the bench until it was resting next to Heather's leg. She lifted one finger to rub gently against her thigh.

Heather felt her face flush at the slight touch. She wanted to smile over at Naya, but she didn't dare. Instead, she casually moved her own hand from her lap to rest on top of Naya's. She squeezed her fingers gently.

Heather's mom spent most of the dinner asking Naya about her family and how she liked working on _Glee_. Heather was pleased that her mom seemed so interested in Naya. She really wanted her to like her.

After a couple of drinks, Heather's mom began telling Naya embarrassing stories about Heather. Heather rolled her eyes and pretended to be mortified, but really, she found the stories as entertaining and ridiculous as Naya did. Naya's hand crept over to squeeze Heather's thigh, and she leaned into Heather's side whenever she laughed.

"Yeah, laugh all you want. One time we're gonna go to dinner with _your _mom and I'm gonna ask for allthe stories from _your _childhood," Heather said, making a face at the brunette. "Payback."

"So, Naya," Heather's mom began, after the waiter had cleared their plates and left them with the tea menu. "Wow…Heather, I think you're gonna have to pick a tea for me," she said, distracted by the extensive menu. "Green, white, _roy_…what is this?"

"Rooibos," Heather pronounced for her.

"Rooibos? Is that good?"

"Oh! You made us rooibos one time at your house, right?" Naya asked Heather suddenly.

"Yep," Heather smiled. "It's my favorite."

"It's really good," Naya assured Heather's mom. "Go with that."

"Yeah, try one of the rooibos teas," Heather agreed.

"Say 'rooibos' again," Naya demanded flatly.

"Rooibos," Heather deadpanned. She glanced over at Naya and they burst into laughter.

After the waiter had brought their tea (green for Heather, white for Naya) and they had all tried one another's, Heather's mom sat back in her chair and studied Naya and Heather thoughtfully, a small smile on her face.

"So, Naya, I was gonna ask," she began again. "What's it like to play the meanest character on television?"

Naya set her teacup down on the saucer. "It's fun," she grinned. "I get to yell at my colleagues all day. What more could you ask for?"

Heather's mom laughed. "Santana has the most ridiculously long-winded insults I've ever heard."

Naya laughed, too. "I know! Like, where does she come up with this stuff? I think that's what she does in class instead of taking notes. She writes pages and pages of insults."

"Think she'll ever back off a little?" Heather's mom asked.

"Oh… maybe. I mean, I think she'll always be sassy. But right now she's just so _angry_, you know? Maybe if Britt hadn't turned her down…" She elbowed Heather, who pouted.

"Hey, I think she's crazy for turning her down," Heather said. Her heart had started to beat a fast cadence against her chest with the turn in the conversation. She stared into her tea. "Now she'll be even more of a bitch."

"Or maybe just more sad," Naya said.

"Heather thinks they're in love," Heather's mom said pointedly.

Naya looked at Heather, who refused to look up, so she looked at Heather's mom instead.

"They are," she said, and shrugged. "I mean, maybe Britt's a little torn right now, but…they've always been in love. They're soul mates," she said, with a small smile. "They'll find their way back to one another."

Heather reached for her hand under the table and squeezed it hard. "See, Mom? Even _Santana_ thinks so."

Heather's mom looked hard at the two of them, her eyes jumping briefly to where their arms disappeared beneath the table.

"You girls have funny ideas about love, I guess. I think it's too bad you're stuck playing that kind of character," she said, her voice low, eyes on Heather.

"What kind?" Naya asked, a little sharply, and Heather glanced nervously at her.

There was a pause, and then Heather's mom said, suddenly, "Do you have a boyfriend, Naya?"

"Um," Naya said slowly, uncertainly, glancing over at Heather. "No."

"And I know Heather doesn't," her mom said.

The two girls just stared at her. Heather felt her chest rising and falling quickly, but she kept her face blank. She was holding Naya's hand so tightly it almost hurt. Her mom stared back at them as if challenging them to speak.

Naya forced her face to relax into a smile. "I think I'm gonna use the restroom," she said quietly. She released Heather's hand and slid off the bench.

"Me, too, " Heather said casually. "Too many drinks."

She followed Naya as she weaved among the tables to the restroom at the back of the restaurant. Naya opened the door. It was a one-person.

"Seriously?" Heather asked, but Naya just took her hand and led her in, closing and locking the door behind them.

The restroom was clean but very small; there was just enough room for a toilet, a small trash can and a tiny pedestal sink. Heather and Naya stood facing each other in front of the sink. Naya crossed her arms nervously, and Heather rubbed her forehead.

"Well, that was weird," she said.

"Yeah," Naya let out a short, humorless laugh. "Do you think she knows?"

"I don't know. Were we too obvious?"

"I didn't think so, but now I don't know," Naya said, biting her lip.

Heather sighed and crossed her arms. "Maybe…" she said softly, trailing off. She sighed again and leaned her forehead against Naya's shoulder. "Unghh," she groaned quietly.

Naya wrapped her arms snugly around Heather's awkwardly bent body. "Maybe you shouldn't tell her, hon," she said, rubbing one hand up and down her back. "I'm afraid of how she might react…"

Heather stood up, ran her fingers through her hair, and propped herself on her palms against the sink. She stared into her own eyes in the mirror for a few seconds. "But if she already knows…"

"Okay, let's think possibilities," Naya said. "Say she gets angry. _Really_ angry. What then?"

"Then I guess she gets an early flight home," Heather said.

"But what about you? What would you do then?" Naya asked, leaning against the wall a couple feet across from Heather, who turned around to face her.

Heather looked away. "It would hurt," she said shortly. "I need her."

"Do you think she'd come around?"

"I don't know."

"What if she refused to talk to you after that?"

Neither of them said anything for a few seconds. Heather wouldn't meet Naya's eyes.

"How important is it that she know?" Naya asked quietly.

"Well, she's gonna find out sooner or later, now that _people _are talking about us."

"Does she read news about you?"

"To an extent."

Both girls sighed, and Naya pushed off the wall to stand right in front of Heather. She ran her hands up and down her arms and then reached for her hands, which were tucked under her crossed arms. She opened her lips like she was about to say something, closed them, and then kissed Heather softly, her lips lingering against her mouth.

"Should we just see what happens?" she asked Heather softly.

Heather nodded and leaned her forehead against Naya's. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Sorry? Why are you sorry?" Naya stroked her cheek.

"I wanted to tell her about us," Heather said, her voice wavering a little.

"Oh, baby," Naya said, pulling her into a hug. "I know. I know you did. But you have nothing to be sorry for, okay? You didn't do anything wrong."

Heather nodded, her face buried between Naya's neck and shoulder. "I can't even believe this is happening," she said thickly. "I don't know what to do. I never expected to have to do this."

"Nobody expects this, baby," Naya said, running a soothing hand up and down Heather's back.

Somebody knocked on the door and turned the locked knob impatiently. Heather straightened up, and Naya said loudly, "Just a minute, sorry." She ran her thumbs under Heather's eyes, wiping away a couple tears. "Ready?" she asked, one hand resting on Heather's face.

Heather smiled a little and nodded. Naya took her hand, opened the door, and marched them straight past the short queue that had formed against the wall.

Heather's mom was signing the receipt when they got back to the table. Heather dropped Naya's hand quickly when she looked up at them.

"Thank you so much for dinner. It was wonderful," Naya said.

Heather's mom smiled, but Heather noticed it didn't reach her eyes. "Anytime," she said. "It was an honor to have dinner with Santana Lopez."

Before they parted ways, Naya squeezed Heather tightly in the cold outside the restaurant. "Just be careful," she whispered into Heather's ear, and Heather nodded against her shoulder. "Call me later."

Heather's mother stood a few feet away, her head turned. "Thanks again, Mrs. Morris," Naya said, taking a few steps toward her and holding her hand out. "It was so nice to meet you."

Heather's mom hesitated for a fraction of a second and then shook Naya's hand. "You, too, honey," she said. Heather thought she sounded a little bit sad.

As Naya turned to walk back to her car, she squeezed Heather's hand one last time and locked eyes with her on the way past.

"Come on, Heather," Mrs. Morris said, holding her hand out.

Heather took it.

**Sorry to leave off with a bit of a cliffhanger. I was going to make it one long chapter but decided to cut it in two. It'll keep you guessing… As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts! **


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Look, two parts up within a couple days of each other! :)**

Chapter 11

Mrs. Morris didn't say much as Heather drove her back to the apartment.

Heather gripped the wheel nervously. The silence was tense. It was making her belly flop around unpleasantly inside her. She felt so anxious she thought she might have to pull over and throw up if neither of them said something soon. This wasn't the ideal situation she had played out in her head all week.

"So, Naya's fun, huh?" Heather said lamely, when they were about halfway home. Her voice sounded weak to her own ears.

"She is," her mother agreed, nodding slowly. "She's lovely."

"We have a lot of fun on set," Heather ventured, even though it wasn't really what she wanted to say.

"That's great, honey," her mom said quietly.

She was being so weird. Heather knew she knew something. She knew something was going to happen. She just wasn't sure if she was going to have to initiate it.

They drove the rest of the way home in silence.

At home, Heather and her mom both changed into their pajamas right away. Heather was glad to get her tight jeans off. She felt uncomfortable and just wanted to curl up in bed and ignore everything. She didn't want to go through this – whatever _this_ was. Her stomach felt heavy with dread.

"I'm gonna make some tea," she said on her way to the kitchen. "It's _rooibos,_" she called, a tentative, playful swing in her voice. "Want some?" She began filling a glass teapot with water from the tap.

"Sure, thanks, honey," her mom said, entering the kitchen in blue plaid drawstring pajama bottoms and an old t-shirt. "Hey, look. We're almost twins."

Heather looked down at her own purple plaid pants and baggy t-shirt. Her hair hung limply around her face. She swung it over one shoulder and smiled at her mom before pouring the water from the teapot into the electric kettle.

"Pretty tea tin," her mom said, taking a seat at the island.

Heather measured out two teaspoons of loose-leaf tea flecked with pieces of dried flower petals and poured them into the strainer in the teapot. She put the top on the tea tin and examined it like she'd never seen it before. It was light pink and gold with tiny flowers on it. "Thanks. Got it at Teavana." Her voice was too casual, too small-talk. _A prelude to the real conversation,_ she thought, and shivered a little bit.

"Cold?" her mom asked.

"Yeah. A little."

"Tea will help."

"Mmhm."

Heather plucked a few dishes from the drying rack and stacked them in the cupboard while the water heated up. She wanted to avoid sitting down across from her mom for as long as she could. Somehow she felt it would be easier to face her and her questions with a warm mug of tea cupped in her cold hands.

When the kettle clicked off, she poured the bubbling water into the glass teapot. The liquid seeped through the tea leaves and filled the pot with a reddish-brown glow. "Perfect," she whispered to herself, and she grabbed her two favorite mugs from the cupboard.

She sat down across from her mother, poured them both a cup, and curled her fingers around the quickly warming porcelain mug. The steam drifted comfortingly upward, dampening the tip of her nose.

"You know, Crystal contacted me last week," her mom began casually.

"Oh? How is she?" Heather asked. She hadn't talked to her older sister in a few weeks. They had both been busy – Heather especially, now that she had been spending all her free time with Naya.

"She's doing fine. She asked about you. You know, she follows you pretty closely – _Glee _and everything, and she reads everything she can about you."

Heather felt like her stomach had disappeared. A hot flush crept its way up her body, from her chest to her neck and onto her face. "She does?"

"Mmhm. Sometimes she calls to tell me the latest news about you. She's always so proud of her little sister."

Heather couldn't smile. She just sat there and swallowed.

"She told me something interesting the other day."

Mrs. Morris took a careful sip of her hot tea and crossed one leg over the other casually. Heather didn't say anything, so her mother continued, rotating her mug by the handle gently.

"She said…that there are people out there saying that you're…_dating…_Naya." Her movements stopped and she looked up at Heather.

Heather's throat felt stuck. She couldn't tell what her mom was thinking. "Who said that?" she asked, trying and failing to sound casually curious. Instead she sounded scared, defensive.

"Oh, it was in a couple online magazines. You know, the ones that are always making up stupid rumors about celebrities," her mom said, looking up at her.

"What did Crystal say about it?"

"She told me she read that you were dating Naya, but that you hadn't said anything to her about it. She was wondering if I knew anything."

"What'd you tell her?"

"Well, I told her I hadn't heard anything, but that I was sure it wasn't true. And that she shouldn't be reading those stupid magazines anyway."

Heather nodded, very slowly, her eyes on the island top between them. Her mind was working in overdrive. A quick succession of thoughts rushed through her head, and she knew she had to make a choice now: tell her mom it was a stupid rumor and that she and Naya were just close friends, or tell her the truth.

"Heather," her mom said, her voice firmer now, before Heather could open her mouth. "It _is _just a rumor, right?" She tried to meet her daughter's eyes.

Heather looked up at her, mouth open. She tried to say something but couldn't think of which words she wanted to say. Instead she just exhaled, shakily, through her mouth.

"Heather," her mom said firmly.

Tears began to prickle at the corners of Heather's eyes, and she shook her head ever so slightly, eyebrows drawn up in the middle.

"No? What are you saying?" her mom asked her. One of her hands clenched around her mug of tea, and the other curled into a fist against the island top, but her voice was quiet. "No, it's not a rumor? Or no, you're not _with _her?"

"No, it's not a rumor," Heather whispered, her entire body tense as she looked up at her mom through her eyelashes.

Mrs. Morris looked into her daughter's eyes, mouth open, top lip lifted slightly in disbelief. The two of them sat, frozen, for a few seconds, and then Heather's mom closed her eyes. A small, disappointed, breathy sound escaped her lips.

"Mom…" Heather said shakily, unsure of what to say. Her instinct was to reassure her mother. "It's okay…"

Her mom looked away, to the right of Heather's face and down. "Have you been dating her long?"

Heather was taken aback by her mom's sudden, detached tone of voice. "A-a few weeks? But we've been close friends for a long time," she tried to explain, wanting to make it better. She reached one hand weakly across the island top toward her mom. It came to rest between them, ignored.

"Did you date other girls before this?" Her mom's voice was steady, but Heather heard the quiver of anger underneath.

"No, I –"

"Are you fucking her? Were you fucking your friends in high school too, or is this a new thing?" she asked calmly.

Heather sat, shocked, breathing hard. She looked down, embarrassed and frightened. She heard her mom take a deep breath.

"Heather, look at me, please. Look at me."

Heather forced herself to look up at her mom, but she couldn't look her in the eye; her eyes jumped nervously around her face.

"This. Is not. You." Mrs. Morris said slowly and firmly. "I don't know what you think you're doing. Are you just sleeping around for the fun of it? Because you're not…_gay _or, or _bisexual _or whatever the hell you think you are. I know you. And this is not you. You're confused." Her voice was calm, as though she was trying to reason with both her daughter and herself.

"No, Mom, just let me explain!" Heather interjected, as a few hot tears slipped from the corners of her eyes; but her mom held up a hand and continued, talking a bit more loudly over Heather's voice.

"You're _confused _because you're playing a girl on a silly television show who thinks she is in love with another girl, who happens to be the girl that Naya is playing."

Heather stopped bothering to wipe the tears from her face and cried openly, shaking her head.

"And Naya is great; she's fun, she likes you, she holds your hand – don't think I didn't notice that at dinner. You two have fun together. You're with her all the time. It makes _sense_, Heather. You've been caught up in it all and you've _confused _your feelings for something more than friendship."

"No, Mom, I –"

"I _know _you, Heather, and this is just the kind of thing that would happen to you; you get caught up in things, you get in over your head…"

Heather stood up shakily, wanting to shout over her mother; but she wouldn't stop talking, wouldn't give her daughter a chance. Her words just kept coming, an endless, unnervingly calm stream of abuse.

"I mean, don't you think it's a little _strange_, Heather? That you've dated _boys_ your entire life, and now suddenly you're with a girl? When did _that_ happen? These things don't just _happen_. And once you're over this – this _crush _or _infatuation _or whatever it is, you'll go straight back to boys and you'll realize it was nothing. And you'll feel pretty damn stupid if everyone finds out about it."

Heather, wanting to run but feeling anchored down by her mother's words, turned confusedly in place, hands tangled in her hair, and then stopped to lean against the kitchen counter, crying.

"Everyone's going to talk, Heather. _Every_one. You know that, right? I think you need to stay away from her for a while. I just want you to think really hard about this before you continue to see her. Think about what people are saying."

"I don't _care _what people are saying!" Heather said loudly. "I don't _care!" _She didn't even know where to begin explaining, didn't know what to say to defend herself. She felt too loud, too hysterical in the face of her mom's calmness.

"Heather," her mom said, lowering her voice very slightly. "It's not Naya, okay? She's a great girl. Really. I can see how close you two are. I just don't understand why you two feel like you need to do this to yourselves. I'm telling you, Heather, you're going to come around. You'll see what I'm talking about."

Heather shook her head. "No, no…" she repeated, her voice high through her tears. "No…"

Her mom got up and made her way towards the spare bedroom. "Heather, I love you, but this is just beyond me. I just - I can't deal with this right now. I've said enough."

Heather found her voice then. "Mom, you don't understand! I'm not _confused _and I can't help it," she cried at her mother's retreating back. "I fell in love with her, Mom! Please, will you just listen to me? I didn't expect it to happen either. All I know is that I _love _her. I'm _happy _when I'm with her. Can't you understand that?"

Her mother stopped and turned around just before leaving the kitchen. Heather watched her from where she stood beside the counter, rubbing the tears off her face. Her eyes were red and swollen, and her freckles stood out against her shining skin.

"Please, Heather," her mom said, voice tired and almost pleading. She sighed, and then her face hardened, and she said coldly, "You need to stop sleeping with her." She threw her hands up. "Fuck some _men._ Just - _figure_ it _out."_

Heather's face crumpled into another sob.

"You are _just_ like Brittany," her mom said slowly, and walked away, leaving her daughter to sink slowly to the floor of the dim kitchen.

* * *

><p>After about twenty minutes or so, Heather stopped shaking enough to climb to her feet and lean against the edge of the counter to catch her breath. Her head throbbed from crying. She took a deep, slow breath and told herself to be calm and think.<p>

Leaving the half-empty tea mugs on the island, she made her way softly back to her room, stepping lightly on the balls of her feet past the spare bedroom where her mother was. She locked herself in her room and sat down on the edge of her bed, but she stood back up almost immediately and paced, feeling anxious and sick to her stomach. Suddenly she remembered her phone, sitting on her bedside table. She clicked the screen into life and unlocked it with a slide of her thumb. There was a message from Naya.

_Can't stop thinking about you. Hope everything's all right. xo_

Heather's eyes filled with new tears. She would have given anything to hop in the car and drive straight to Naya's right then. She started to tap out a reply, but then she stopped, unsure of what to say. She wasn't even sure what to think about what her mom had said yet. She was too overwhelmed.

She fell back on her bed, curled onto her side on top of the mussed sheets and blankets, and closed her eyes to process for a bit. Her mom's words echoed immediately in her head, as if they'd never left. _This. Is not. You. This. Is not. You. _

Heather began to mentally tick off her mother's arguments in her head and defend herself against them. She didn't care about people finding out anymore. Almost all of the important people in her life already knew, anyway: her closest friends, her mother. She'd have to call her sister and set her straight. And now that the media had got wind of it, there'd really be no escaping it – not that she really cared to escape it, anymore.

As for her mother's belief that she was just confused… Well, she _had _been confused. It had all happened so fast. But she knew it wasn't the Brittana storyline that had made her love Naya. The thought of that was just ridiculous. She thought back to Naya's birthday party, to the first time she'd kissed her during spin-the-bottle. She remembered how she had realized, just before her lips had touched Naya's, that that was exactly what she wanted to be doing. She smiled a tiny bit just thinking about it.

_This. Is not. You. _

Those words kept coming back to her. Her mom had struck a chord, had played right into her biggest insecurity: her identity, her label. _You're not _gay _or, or _bisexual…_you're gonna go straight back to guys…you'll feel pretty damn stupid…_

She was so scared of losing her mom over this. _Was _she confused? Was she going to lose her mom just because she was mislabeling her feelings? Was she wrong about what she was_?_ It _was _sudden, the way she'd fallen for Naya. She'd never felt so strongly about another girl before her. So why now? Was it really real?

* * *

><p>Heather only realized she'd fallen asleep when she woke up kicking around gently in her bed. She blinked and squinted against the light still on in her room. She pushed her hair out of her eyes and checked the time on her phone. It was 3:49 a.m. She sat up quickly, realizing she'd forgotten to call Naya. There were no new messages.<p>

She found Naya's name in her phone quickly and called her. The phone rang a few times. Heather felt a little bad calling her so early in the morning.

Another ring. And another. Maybe she was asleep? Her voicemail picked up after the fifth ring. The sound of Naya's recorded voice over the phone made Heather's heart hurt with wanting to be with her, wanting to tell her everything.

"Hey," Heather said, her voice low and groggy. "It's me. I fell asleep. Um…I told my mom. Or, she kind of knew, I guess." She swallowed back a painful lump in her throat and tried to keep her voice from cracking. "It wasn't so good, Nay. Call me back, okay?"

Heather threw the phone onto her bed, and then on second thought, retrieved it and set it on her nightstand, so she wouldn't have to search for it when Naya returned her call. She didn't want to go to sleep and miss it. She didn't think she could sleep anyway, even if she tried. She tried unsuccessfully to distract herself, first by reading a book - she couldn't concentrate on the story - and then by listening to music - everything was too sad, or too party, and sounded wrong. Finally she grabbed her phone and wandered out to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea.

Thirty minutes later, she was sitting cross-legged on the couch in her dimly lit living room, fingertips tapping impatiently on the cold, empty mug in her lap. Naya still hadn't called, and Heather was reluctant to call again when she was obviously asleep.

She decided to try Dianna. She needed to hear someone's voice – _before _her mom woke up and she had to face her again. Maybe Di would be up. It was almost 5:00. She knew she got up really early to run most days.

The phone rang twice before Dianna answered. "_HeMo_?" She sounded awake and alert.

"Hey…"

"_Are you okay? Why are you up?"_

"Are you home? Can I come over?" Heather asked, her voice thick with new unshed tears.

"_Of course, honey. Did something happen with Naya? Do you need me to pick you up?" _Dianna asked, her voice gentle.

"No, I can't get a hold of Naya and I just really need to talk," Heather said. "I'll drive myself. I'm leaving now, okay?"

"_Okay, I'll see you soon. Hang in there, babe."_

Without bothering to brush her hair or throw on street clothes, Heather tossed her phone and keys in her purse and left, closing the door as quietly as she could behind herself.

**A/N: Sorry for the rough chapter, everyone. :( Hang in there! Next chapter will come soon!**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Heather knocked on the door of Dianna's apartment and heard the sounds of feet moving quickly across the floor within. The door swung open, and Heather was surprised to see Lea, her eyes widening a bit at the sight in front of her – Heather, in flannel pants and fuzzy brown boots, with an unzipped jacket hanging loosely over a large t-shirt. She was holding the strap of her purse in one fist. The bag hung nearly to the floor beside her legs.

"Hey, girl," Lea said, with a sympathetic purse of her lips and a tiny smile.

"Hey. What are you doing up?" Heather asked, her brow furrowed.

"I'm an early riser. Ready to get my yoga on. And Dianna said you were coming over."

Lea held her hand out, and Heather took it limply, refusing to let go even after she stepped inside the warm, quiet apartment. It felt good to hold Lea's hand; her palm was warm against Heather's clammy one. Heather wiggled her fingers a little to get a better grip, and Lea leaned up to place a quick kiss on her cheek.

"Glad you're here," she said with a sweet smile.

"Come on in, HeMo. I'll be there in just a sec." Dianna's voice came from the kitchen.

Lea took Heather's purse in her other hand and hung it on a hook beside the door before leading Heather down the hallway and toward Dianna's voice. Heather shuffled along behind her.

Dianna was pouring coffee in the kitchen. "Hey, hon. Want a cup?" Dianna looked up to see Heather standing in the doorway, still holding Lea's hand. She poured two steaming cups of coffee and walked one over to the table.

Heather shook her head. "I'm already too jittery," she said.

"Okay." Dianna handed the other mug to Lea, and then she held her arms out toward Heather. "Come here," she breathed, barely a whisper.

Heather let go of Lea's hand to wrap her arms around Dianna. She rested her chin on Dianna's shoulder, and her short hair tickled her nose and eyelids. She inhaled deeply. Dianna smelled good, and it was nice to be hugged by her, but Heather wished it were Naya instead.

"Oh, honey," Dianna said quietly, releasing Heather. She placed her hands on the sides of Heather's face, examining the dark circles under her eyes, and then rubbed the ends of Heather's hair between her fingers, looking her quickly up and down.

"Come on," she said.

She motioned towards the table on the other side of the kitchen. It was bathed in the early-morning sunlight streaming through the double glass doors that led onto the balcony. Dianna kept a hand on Heather's back and pulled out a chair for her.

"Sit down. Tell me everything. Don't stop until it's all out."

She and Lea sat across from Heather, cradling mugs of coffee, waiting expectantly. Heather slouched backward in her chair, fingers clasped together on the tabletop. She exhaled loudly through her mouth, cheeks puffing out, and ran a hand through her hair.

"Well, turns out my mom heard about Naya and me," she began. "My sister read about it somewhere and told her."

"Oh, my goodness," Lea said quietly.

"And she told you this last night? At dinner?" Dianna asked.

"No, afterward. Dinner was actually pretty okay. She liked Naya. Everything was great until the end."

"What happened?" Dianna and Lea spoke at the same time.

"We started talking about the whole Brittany and Santana thing, and my mom got all weird and like, asked Nay if she had a boyfriend, and then we all just like sat there awkwardly and it was just so uncomfortable and I was so nervous." The words spilled out of Heather's mouth. It felt good to talk, so she kept going, but it made her feel a little anxious, too. It was a little bit like re-living it.

"I thought she was going to ask us about it right then and there. But then Naya and I went to the bathroom and we decided that maybe I shouldn't tell my mom about us, although we were pretty sure she knew something. We thought it was because we'd been holding hands during dinner."

"Aww, you held hands?" Lea said.

"Yeah, but like, under the table. Like on the seat between us. Turns out she _did _notice, but – well, anyway.

"So my mom and I got back to the apartment and she asked me if it was true." Heather's voice got really quiet. "And I couldn't lie to her."

She felt her cheeks starting to burn and she was afraid she was going to start crying, so she took a second to collect herself, rubbing her eyes with her fingers.

"And then…" Her voice came out high-pitched as the tears began despite her best efforts to stop them. She took a shaky breath and kept one hand on her forehead.

Dianna reached across the table to grab her other hand. She squeezed her fingers once.

Heather took another breath and got herself under control, but her voice still sounded thick when she spoke.

"And then she told me that that's not who I am. Not…gay or anything. She said she knows me, and that I'm just confused. She thinks I'm just being stupid and getting in over my head or something." She sniffed loudly and her legs began to bounce nervously. "She told me that I should – that I should fuck some guys instead."

Dianna and Lea both made quiet sounds of anger and frowned at her last statement.

"No effing way," Lea said, her dark eyes strangely bright with anger. "Please tell me she did _not _say that to you."

Heather just tucked her lips into her mouth, nodded, and wiped at a tear.

"That is _not_ okay. It's not okay!" Lea looked to Dianna to back her up.

Dianna nodded gently and motioned for Lea to lower her voice a little. Lea huffed and sat back in her chair, fingers strumming hard against the tabletop.

"I just cannot believe she said that."

"Neither can I," Dianna said gently. "Heather, do you wanna go outside? Walk off that nervous energy? You're so jumpy you look like you're trying to learn an Irish step dance or something."

Heather stilled her legs. She hadn't even noticed the nervous tic, but as soon as she stopped, her chest and stomach filled with anxiety. She started bobbing one leg again, unable to contain it. She nodded.

"Okay."

* * *

><p>Outside, the sky was a light cloudless blue, but the air was chilly. Heather thought maybe the open space would make her feel better, but everything just seemed kind of gray – the stripes down the middle of the road, the broad leaves on the trees. Everything had been stripped of color. It was like the only real thing in the world was the awful feeling inside her, in her chest and stomach and heart. She felt so anxious, like things needed fixed, like she should be with her mother, explaining herself.<p>

She missed Naya. She wanted to be with her. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest, took deep breaths of the crisp air through her nose, and lifted her face to the sky, but it didn't make her feel any better.

The three of them walked quietly around the block once. Nobody said much. Heather bounced occasionally on the balls of her feet, trying to rid her body of anxiety.

"I shouldn't have this much energy," she said. "I didn't exactly sleep well. I feel like I could run a marathon or do some hardcore parkour or something."

"Right up that stairway – " Dianna pointed.

"And over that wall…" Lea continued.

Heather smiled a little bit. Lea and Dianna wormed their hands underneath Heather's arms, each of them hooking an elbow tightly against hers. Heather shivered and shrugged her shoulders against the cold. There was only a slight wind, but it easily penetrated the thin fabric of her pajama pants.

"Hot spot?" Dianna asked, pointing to an area across the street and behind her apartment complex.

"Yes! Excellent idea. It's so cold out here," Lea agreed quickly, and tugged on Heather's arm to lead her across the street.

"What's a hot spot?" Heather asked, confused.

"Not sure, exactly," Di said, as they walked across the sidewalk and over the grass. Heather could hear the smile in her voice. "It's this big concrete square and it's always really warm. I'm guessing they like, heat water up under there or something."

"Di and I found it one night when we were slightly intoxicated," Lea explained matter-of-factly.

"I think you mean _you _were intoxicated, and more than slightly," Dianna said, rolling her eyes. "She had to pee and thought she could do it in one of the bushes out back," she told Heather.

"Di! You promised you'd never tell anyone!" Lea said, leaning around to look at Dianna before addressing Heather. "I couldn't make it all the way into the building and up the stairs to her apartment! It was urgent and I had an expensive dress on!"

"Yeah, so we kind of ran around the building and Lea tripped on the edge of the hot spot and fell onto her hands. And that's when we discovered how hot it was."

"So… did you actually pee outside?" Heather asked Lea, genuinely curious.

"Ugh, yes, if you must know. In a bush. It was incredibly prickly and unpleasant, and it's much more difficult than you might imagine," Lea said dramatically. "Especially with those branches all up in my business."

"She made me stand in front of her and hold out my dress to shield her from prying eyes," Dianna said.

"Well!" Lea said, drawing out the word. "You never know who is watching these days!"

"I don't think anybody wants to watch you squat in a bush," Dianna said teasingly.

Lea huffed. "Well, anyway, here we are!" She let go of Heather's arm and skipped onto the hot spot.

It was exactly as Dianna had said – a piece of concrete, about eight square feet, set into the ground on one side of the courtyard behind the apartment complex. It had a metal circle embedded in it, like a manhole cover. Grass surrounded the perimeter of the concrete.

Lea carefully lay down, settling her hands comfortably on her stomach. She looked up at Heather and Dianna, standing behind her.

"Well, are you two coming or what?"

Heather and Dianna stepped onto the concrete and stretched out carefully beside Lea. It was very warm, almost hot – especially through Heather's thin pajama pants. She thought for a second it would burn her, but she got used to it pretty quickly. It was like sliding into a hot bath – the water always feels too hot until her skin warms up. She took her jacket off, folded it underneath her head, and sighed.

Dianna's fingers touched Heather's, and Heather turned her palm upward so Dianna could hold her hand. On the other side of her, Lea did the same. They lay there, eyes closed, enjoying the warmth.

Heather reluctantly broke the silence. Something was nagging at her, and she had to ask it, even though she felt like she should know the answer herself.

"Do you think my mom was right? That I'm just confused?" she asked quietly, without opening her eyes.

Dianna thought for a few seconds before answering, and her silence made Heather's stomach flip-flop. She was afraid that Dianna was silently agreeing with her mom.

"I think only Heather Morris can know exactly what Heather Morris is thinking and feeling," Dianna said. "Nobody else can tell you. Not me, not your mom… just you. And sometimes, you might not be able to say exactly what you're feeling. You might not be able to say, 'I feel _x, _or I feel _y. _But you're still _feeling_ it. It's still there, whether you know how to explain it or not. And I think that's all that matters. Does that make sense?"

Heather thought about that. It did make sense, sort of. She tried to think about what she was feeling. But then she decided maybe that was against the point. Maybe she should just feel it and not think about it. Maybe feelings didn't always need words.

"Maybe," she said in reply. "Maybe I've been thinking too much this whole time."

"Overthinking's a bitch," Lea said. "Everyone does it sometimes."

"Naya doesn't do it," Heather said. "Or at least, it doesn't seem like it."

"Oh, I don't know. I wouldn't be so sure about that," Dianna said.

"It's just my mom sounded so…certain. So calm and reasonable, and she's my mom, you know? I can't help but listen to her…"

"But Heather, do you really think your mom knows more about your relationship with Naya than you do?" Dianna asked her.

No. Of course not. Heather knew that. But…

"Why did I fall in love with her?" she asked suddenly, beginning to ramble. "Why did it happen? Why now? It doesn't make any _sense. _I've always liked boys. I've never liked a girl like this before." She curled her fists over her eyes in frustration. "Like, what the hell _is _this? Sometimes I think it's just all in my head…"

"Well, of _course _it's all in your head, sweetie," Dianna said, sitting up. "I mean, most of it is. That's where _feelings _start." She tickled Heather's stomach softly with the fingertips of one hand. "Ninety percent of it is inside of you. And the rest of it is in the way it shows – like, through dating, and kissing, and doing silly, everyday stuff with the person you love. None of that would be happening if there was nothing in your head."

Heather looked up at Dianna thoughtfully, but didn't say anything.

"Hey, HeMo? How come you came over here instead of going to Naya's?" Lea asked, rolling onto her side. "I mean, you know we love you and we're happy to listen and help if we can. But shouldn't she be the one telling you all this?"

"I called her, but she didn't answer. I figured she was asleep, and she hasn't called me back yet, so… Oh, my gosh! My phone! I left it inside! What if she called me?" Heather sat up. "Sorry guys, I have to go check it."

She stood up and started power-walking across the lawn. "You coming?" she called behind her, motioning frantically to Dianna and Lea.

"Coming! Wait up!" Dianna said. "You can't get in without my key anyway!"

"Well, hurry up then!" Heather called, breaking into a slight jog.

Shit. What if Naya was looking for her? She was probably getting worried, especially since Heather had left her that less-than-cheerful voicemail. Shit, shit, shit.

Heather burst through the door as soon as Dianna unlocked it and immediately stuck a hand into her purse, feeling around for her phone. She found it at the bottom, pulled it out and unlocked it. It was 7:12 a.m., and she had three texts and four missed calls from Naya. She opened the texts first.

_5:46 a.m.: Are you asleep? Can I call?_

_6:53 a.m.: Where are you?_

_7:01 a.m.: Are you okay? Where are you? I'm worried! Call me!_

She opened her voicemail and listened. Naya's voice filled her ear, worried and a tiny bit frantic.

_5:48 a.m. Heather? I got your message. I'm so sorry, I was asleep when you called. You're probably asleep now because you haven't answered my text. Are you okay? Call me back, okay? I love you._

"Uh oh, looks like she was trying to contact me, too," Dianna said, picking her phone up off an end table. "She's wondering if you're here. Should I text her?"

"I'll do it," Heather said, and held a finger up as the next message started to play.

_5:58 a.m. Hey, I'm coming over. I don't care if you're asleep. I wanna be with you. _

_6:27 a.m. Hey, I'm outside your door. Open up. I've been knocking for like three minutes straight. Are you dead in there? Come let me in. I'm going to keep calling until you – _

There was a pause, and then the message ended.

"Oh, no," Heather groaned, one hand on her forehead. "Oh god oh god oh god."

"What? What happened?" Lea asked.

Heather shook her head. The last message started. It sounded like Naya was crying a little. She sounded angry, too. Heather shut her eyes tight as she listened, face contorted into a grimace.

_6:56 a.m. Heather? God, please, please answer. Fuck. Why aren't you answering your phone? Where are you? I'm seriously worried. Please. Where are you? I'm on my way to Di's now. Maybe you're there. I talked to your mom, kind of, and she doesn't know where you are either, and we're both really worried. I'm scared. Are you okay? Oh god, why didn't I wake up when you called me earlier? Please be okay. Oh god, please please please be okay. I love you._

"She's already on her way," Heather said. "Ugh, she sounds really, really worried. Shit. I should've taken my phone with me. I'm causing all this drama for nothing. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why didn't I just stay home and wait for her to call?"

She groaned and tapped the call button under Naya's name. Dianna took her elbow and led her to the couch, where they sat, Dianna rubbing Heather's back to calm her.

"_Heather!"_ Naya picked up after the first ring.

"Naya, I'm so sorry. I'm at Di's – we went outside and I forgot my phone. I'm okay, I just needed to talk to someone and I couldn't get a hold of you."

Heather felt so stupid she wanted to just curl up under a blanket on Dianna's couch and disappear.

"_Oh, my god."_ Breathy relief flooded Naya's voice. _"I'm so glad you're okay. I was so worried. I had all these awful images of you like, dead in a ditch or – just, I'm so glad you're okay. Oh, thank god."_

"I'm sorry," Heather said, her voice small.

"_Baby, it's okay. I'm just relieved. You're at Di's?"_

"Yeah. Are you on your way?"

"_Yeah, I'm like three blocks away. I'll be there soon and we can talk, okay? Hold tight."_

"Okay. Hurry."

"_I'm hurrying. I love you."_

"I love you, too."

Heather hung up the phone and immediately tears welled up in her eyes and began running down her cheeks.

"Fuck," she whispered, wiping at them. Crying _again. _"Sorry," she said to no one in particular.

She was mostly crying from relief. She wanted Naya there so badly at that moment that it hurt. She didn't know how she would survive these last few minutes without her. She thought about her mom and cried harder, which made her feel even sillier.

"She'll be here soon," Dianna said, pulling Heather's head to her shoulder and holding her.

"I need her," Heather cried lamely, vaguely embarrassed that Dianna's shirt was now damp from her tears and saliva.

"She's on her way," Dianna murmured against Heather's hair. "It's gonna be okay."

Heather felt Lea sit down on her other side. She rubbed Heather's back gently.

"Ugh, I'm okay. I feel so dumb," Heather said, but she continued to cry, and whispered, "When's she gonna be here?"

"Soon, sweetheart. Soon."

"Do you want to go down and wait for her?" Lea suggested.

Heather nodded against Dianna's shoulder and sat up, wiping at her tears. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna go down. Good idea. Um… I guess I'll take this with me," she said, grabbing her purse from the floor. Dianna and Lea walked with her to the door.

"Heather," Dianna said behind her, and Heather turned around, one hand on the doorknob, realizing she was about to leave with saying good-bye or thanks or anything. She felt so distracted – all she could think about was getting to Naya and getting things figured out.

Dianna and Lea both held their arms out at once, and Heather leaned into the three-way hug, closing her eyes briefly as her chin rested somewhere between Lea's and Dianna's heads.

"You guys are the best," she whispered. "I love you."

The three of them jumped apart quickly as a loud knock sounded directly behind them. Heather lunged for the knob.

As she swung the door open, Naya cried out, "I'm here!" and all but tumbled into the room, dressed in a similar fashion as Heather in sweats and a hoodie, her hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun.

Her eyes swept up Heather's body quickly. "Oh," she said quietly. She touched Heather's face briefly, her eyes sweeping from forehead to chin and back to tired blue eyes, taking in her appearance before slipping her arms around Heather's shoulders to pull her snugly against herself with a sigh.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next one should be up within the next few days. For some reason, I had a difficult time writing this one. I'd love to hear your thoughts.**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Hey guys! Thank you so much for your reviews! I love reading them. **

**I got a question about the hot spot. There's one on my college campus that my friends and I like to lie on late at night, especially when it's cold out. It's exactly as I described it in the last chapter and it is delightful. :)**

**I also got a couple comments about Lea. It's nice to hear that people like how I write her, because honestly, thinking up her silly comments is one of the best things about writing this fic! **

**Anyway, now on to…**

Chapter 13

Heather felt her body soften to fit perfectly against all the little dips and curves of Naya's body like it had a hundred times before. She felt everything relax at once - her head dipped forward as she pressed her face into the warm space between Naya's neck and shoulder, her arms slipped around Naya's lower back to rest against her hips. Even their feet, pressed in between one another's, fit together.

She felt safe, finally.

There were so many things to say to Naya, so much to explain, so many questions to ask. A million words fought to get out of her mouth at once. Her mind flitted around quickly. Should she ask her what had happened at her apartment? Blurt out everything her mom had said last night?

After searching for the right words, all she managed was, "You're here." It came out like a sigh of relief against Naya's neck.

"I am. I'm here," Naya said, rubbing her back.

Heather sighed again. "What a crazy morning," she said, pulling back to look at Naya, but keeping her arms around her waist.

They both laughed a little bit, and Naya gently brushed Heather's hair off her forehead with cool fingertips.

"Tell me what happened?" she asked Heather gently.

Heather nodded. Somehow it all seemed much less scary and way more manageable now. All she could think about was how glad she was that Naya was finally there, in her arms, exactly where she'd wanted her since the moment they had separated at the restaurant the night before. She moved her hands from Naya's waist to cup her cheeks and murmured, "First, can I just – ?"

She hesitated for a second, glanced into Naya's eyes, and then leaned in to kiss her hard on the mouth, inhaling loudly through her nose as she did so. She stayed there for a few seconds, and then broke the kiss and pressed her forehead against Naya's.

"Okay," she exhaled, her breath on Naya's lips. She smiled a little. "I'm okay."

"Yeah?" Naya asked softly.

"Yeah."

"Well, what about me?" Naya asked. "I don't think I'm okay yet. Maybe if I…"

She smiled and kissed Heather again, her mouth lingering against Heather's.

"Better now?" Heather asked, smiling against Naya's lips.

"Mmm, almost. One more," Naya said, and kissed her a third time, softly. "Okay. I think I'm good. For now."

She looked to the left of Heather's face suddenly, a tiny frown creasing her brow. Heather followed her gaze to see Lea and Dianna sneaking quietly up the staircase on the balls of their feet. Dianna had her hand on Lea's waist on the step above her as if urging her on. They both looked a little ridiculous.

"Guys," Naya said, and they both froze and turned around.

"Naya!" Lea said as though she'd just noticed that Naya was there. Her face was plastered with her classic, toothy smile.

"We just thought we'd give you guys the living room if you'd like to talk. Don't mind us," Dianna said generously, waving her hand as if it was nothing.

"Oh, stop it," Naya said, motioning for them to come back down. "Come here so I can give you both a hug before we leave."

They walked back downstairs, and Naya gave them both a squeeze. "Thanks for taking care of my girl," she said. She winked at Heather and held her hand out for her to take. "Now I'm gonna take her for some breakfast and emotional processing. Sound okay, baby?"

"That sounds like a delicious combination," Lea said, rising on the balls of her feet to kiss Heather and Naya on their cheeks.

"Call us if you need us, okay?" Dianna said, opening the door for them. "For anything. Any time. That goes for both of you."

"Will do. Thanks guys," Heather said.

"Love you girls," Dianna said, blowing kisses down the hall after them.

Naya kept her arm around Heather's waist as they walked down the stairs and across the parking lot to their cars, and Heather kept her arm around Naya's shoulders. They held each other so tightly that they didn't even jostle as they walked.

"Where are you parked?"

Heather pointed across the lot, and they walked over to her car.

"You wanna follow me? I was thinking that bagel place a few blocks away. Sound good?" Naya asked.

"Yeah, that's fine."

"You should probably shoot your mom a text and tell her you're okay. She was worried," Naya said, opening Heather's car door for her.

"Okay," Heather said reluctantly.

"Do it before we leave," Naya said. "Don't text and drive."

She shut Heather's door and patted the window once before hurrying over to her own car.

Heather pulled out her phone, clicked on her mom's name and tapped out, _I was at a friend's house. Getting breakfast now. I'll bring you some. _She flipped the volume tab on her phone to vibrate, stuck it back in her purse, and pulled out of the lot behind Naya's car.

* * *

><p>"Grabbed you a napkin," Naya said, sitting down across from Heather at a small round table in front of a big window that looked out onto the sidewalk. The café was warm and smelled like coffee and bread dough. It was bustling, even before 8:00 on a Sunday.<p>

Heather pulled her eyes away from the window. "Thanks." She smiled at Naya and pulled a bagel out of the brown paper bag beside her, pulling it apart carefully at the seam. She'd bought a couple extra for her mom to choose from.

"Okay, honey. Spill," Naya said, taking a sip of her coffee and reaching in for her own bagel. "I wanna know everything."

Heather took a bite of the thick dough, chewed and swallowed before answering. "Will you spill first? I can't stop thinking about she might've said to you. I feel terrible. I'm so sorry I wasn't there."

"Well, it's my fault for just showing up. And Woody Woodpecker-ing my way through your door at like six in the morning," Naya said.

"I just feel terrible that you got pulled into this," Heather said miserably.

Naya put her elbows on the table and leaned toward Heather. "Baby," she said. "I was gonna get pulled in no matter what. I'm your girlfriend. There was no escaping it." She offered Heather a small smile. "And I knew that. I'm okay with that."

"What'd she say to you?" Heather asked, dreading the answer.

Naya leaned back, looking away. "Not a whole lot," she said hesitantly. "I tried to be really calm. I felt bad, because I think I woke her up. I asked her if you were there and if she knew where you were."

"And?"

"Well, she didn't know where you were, of course. And she made it pretty clear that she thinks we're making a mistake," Naya said. "That's the gist of it. I don't wanna sound like I'm trash talking your mom or anything."

"You're not. I wanna know what she said." Heather reached over to rest a hand lightly on Naya's arm. "Nay."

Naya looked up at her but didn't say anything. Her eyes jumped between Heather's before coming to rest somewhere near Heather's left elbow. Heather could see her biting the inside of her bottom lip.

"Did she say that I was just confused?" Heather asked her. "You can just nod yes or no."

Naya hesitated a second before nodding. She still didn't look at Heather.

"Okay. And did she say that it's the whole Brittany/Santana thing that's got me thinking this way?"

Naya nodded again, and Heather continued. "Did she tell you that I'm not bisexual or anything and I'm basically just being stupid and getting caught up in things?"

Naya looked at her. "Yeah," she said softly. "Oh, baby. She said all that to you, too?" She slipped her fingers against Heather's palm so she could hold her hand.

"Basically," Heather said. "She didn't – she didn't tell you that you need to fuck some guys, did she?"

"What?" Naya said, her mouth open. "No. Did she say that to you?"

Heather bit her lip.

"Heather. Did she say that to you?" Naya pressed, her voice raised slightly. She shook Heather's hand back and forth a little.

"Yes," Heather said.

Naya made a sound of disgust, frowned, and leaned back in her chair, looking around like she couldn't believe it and didn't know what to do with herself. She leaned over the table again towards Heather.

"That is _appalling_," she said plainly. "I can_not _believe she said that to you."

"I know."

"I'm serious, Heather. That's just – that's – it's _appalling_," she repeated, unable to find a word that better expressed how she felt about it.

"I know_,"_ Heather said again. "I told her she doesn't know what she's talking about."

"_Good,_" Naya said, still sounding angry. "I'm sorry, I'm just – ugh."

"I'm glad she didn't say that to you, at least," Heather said, squeezing Naya's hand.

"No, she definitely didn't. She didn't say anything about me at all. She just talked about you. About how _confused _she thinks you are. About how you're going to realize soon that this is just some big mistake." Naya sighed. "I think she was trying to scare me away."

"Naya, listen. That's not how it is," Heather began, a hint of desperation in her voice. "I'm not confused; I'm not – "

"Heather," Naya interrupted her gently. "I know. You don't have to explainyourself, okay, sweetie? I know that this is real. I know. Don't think for one second that I believed your mom, or that I doubted you, or us. I didn't. I love you so much, and I know you love me. I never, _never _doubted you. In fact, I told your mom that I believed she was wrong about you. I was so damn polite. You would've been proud of me."

"I _am _proud of you," Heather interjected, and Naya smiled.

"You have no idea how badly I wanted to slip into Santana Bitch Mode. But I just told her that I thought she was mistaken, and that I love her daughter very much. And then I said regardless of all that, I'm still your best friend and that you had texted me and were upset, and so I wanted to find you. And she was in favor of finding you, of course."

Heather was filled with relief, and she nodded quickly. Naya had never doubted her. She knew Heather loved her. She may have doubted herself, but Naya had _never doubted her_. She felt a tiny twinge of guilt amidst the relief. Should she tell Naya that she had been scared? That her mom's words _had _had an effect on her?

"I'm so sorry this happened," she whispered, and her vision started to blur as tears jumped to her eyes.

"I know, baby. It's not your fault. I'm sorry it happened, too." Naya rubbed small circles into the back of Heather's hand with her thumb. "I'm so, so sorry. I think your mom'll come around, though, don't you? She loves you so much."

Heather sniffled. "I hope so," she said. The tears began to slide down her face, along the side of her nose. "Nay," she said. "She scared me. I thought she was right for a little while. I was so scared that I really _was _confused; that I had it all wrong."

She felt ashamed and was afraid Naya would be angry at her, so she covered her face with her free hand as she spoke.

"It's like I'm two different people," she cried, frustrated. "It's like I'm split between my head and my heart. And my head is freaking out, because I never _really_ liked a girl before and now I'm in love with one and I don't know what to think about that." She moved her hand away from her face and looked at Naya. "And my heart – my heart is just so, so in love with you. I've never been more in love than I am now."

Naya looked at Heather with the softest, most caring eyes that it made Heather's tears slow a little bit.

"I think my head just needs to catch up with my heart. Don't worry, though," she said, sniffling. "I think my heart is winning. Because even though I was scared, I told my mom she was wrong, and that I fell in love with you even though I didn't expect it, and that she just didn't understand. I wish she could understand that."

"She will. It might just take her some time," Naya said comfortingly. "And I'm not worried."

"Are you mad?" Heather asked Naya, wiping the tears off her face.

"Why would I be mad?" Naya asked. "Mad at your mom, you mean?"

"No, at me."

"Of course I'm not mad at you, baby," Naya said. She leaned over to press her knuckles to Heather's cheek and wipe a tear off her face with her thumb. "Of course not. Why would you think that?"

"I don't know," Heather shrugged. "I've just had so much trouble trying to figure myself out. I feel like you're so much better at it."

"No one's 'better' or 'worse' than anyone else when it comes to stuff like this," Naya said. "Everyone goes at their own pace. Please don't feel bad, baby. Don't be so hard on yourself. You're already being exactly who you are, you know. You're doing it perfectly. It's just that your head hasn't caught on yet, like you said."

Heather nodded. "I feel like I'm close. I'm so close. I think I just got…set back by what my mom said."

Naya sighed. "I don't like that she made you feel this way."

"Me neither," Heather said, and took a deep breath. "But I'm okay. I love you. I _love _you. I never stopped loving you."

Naya smiled at her.

"And that makes me _feel _how right this is," Heather said firmly. "How right we are together. And I think I've felt that way all along."

"I know you have," Naya said, smiling gently, taking Heather's hand in both her own. "I love you so much. You're so strong. Really. It takes so much strength to get through stuff like this and to come out knowing yourself better on the other side. And that's exactly what you're doing."

Heather smiled. She almost felt whole, almost like her head and her heart had completely lined up. She loved Naya. She felt that _and _she knew it.

There was only a tiny, lingering bit of confusion. It was like her head still couldn't believe that she had fallen for Naya. Some part of her head still told her that it just didn't make sense, that it defied all odds.

She pushed the thought to the back of her mind for later and took a bite of her bagel.

"So do you and your mom have plans for today?" Naya asked her.

"Not really. We might just go do some sightseeing or something. I dunno. She's coming to set tomorrow, just to look around and meet everyone. Her flight's at three."

"God, the weekends sure do fly when you work six days a week," Naya said.

"Yeah, no kidding."

"Is it gonna be awkward between you two?"

"We'll probably just do what we always do after a fight – ignore it. Neither of us is going to want more conflict. Especially not when we only have a couple days together. And I don't think talking about it anymore is going to help. Not right now, at least, so…"

"Yeah," Naya said. "Well, you know you can text me whenever you want. My phone will be glued to my hip this weekend."

"As if it isn't already," Heather said, grinning.

Naya made a face at her. "True enough. Did your mom text you back?"

"Oh, I forgot to check. I put it on vibrate." Heather fished around in her purse for her phone and pulled it out. "Yep, one text message. She says," – she unlocked her phone and opened the text – "'Okay, honey.'"

"'Okay, honey'? Well, that doesn't sound too bad," Naya said, one eyebrow raised.

"Mmhm." Heather stuck the last of her bagel in her mouth, chewed, and swallowed. "You about ready? I hate to rush, but I should probably get back."

"Ready when you are."

They intertwined their fingers and walked out to their cars together. Heather pulled Naya close and hugged her tightly.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you, too," Naya said, scratching lightly across Heather's back with her fingernails. "Everything's gonna be okay."

"I know," Heather said quietly. She sighed contentedly, not wanting to let go. "I wish I could spend the whole weekend with you."

"Me, too. Hey, listen. How about you keep tomorrow night open?" Naya asked as her hands stilled against Heather's back.

"Tomorrow night?"

"Yeah. Late. I might have something for us to do. No promises, but – keep it open."

Heather pulled back to look at Naya. One side of Naya's mouth twitched up in a smile, and she raised an eyebrow at Heather.

"Okay," Heather said slowly. "I mean, I'll try. I don't really know what my mom and I will be doing."

"Okay, well, I'll keep in touch, at least," Naya said mysteriously. She put her hands on Heather's waist and kissed her. "I love you," she whispered, and kissed her again.

"I love you, too, you dork," Heather said.

Naya grinned at her and squeezed her hand as they began to walk away. "Drive safely!"

"Always," Heather said over her shoulder with a smile.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! More fun in store for the next chapter… :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Hey everyone! Thank you again for the lovely comments. I really appreciate them. Extra-extra-long chapter ahead. Merry Christmas, or Happy Whatever-It-Is-You-Celebrate! :)**

Chapter 14

Heather felt fairly calm as she walked through the door of her apartment, crumpled paper bag of bagels in hand. She had spent enough time talking to Dianna, Lea, and Naya that some of the heartache that had quickly built up within her after the talk with her mom had eased. She felt somehow more confident in herself. Her mom's words still echoed in her mind every now and then, but they didn't cause that same twist of panic in her stomach, which was a relief.

Mrs. Morris stuck her head around the door of the guest bedroom when Heather closed the front door. She was pulling a comb through her wet hair, and the shoulders of her gray t-shirt were dark with dampness where her hair touched them.

"Hi, honey," she said, her voice mild, and continued to comb.

"Oh, hey," Heather said, holding up the bag of bagels. "Brought you some breakfast. Bagels." She walked toward the kitchen, her mother following, and set them on the island.

"Where'd you go so early?" her mom asked, pulling the comb smoothly through her now untangled hair.

"Dianna's," Heather said.

"Oh. Well, is everything okay?" her mom asked.

Heather resisted the urge to sigh or speak through gritted teeth. "Mhm," she hummed, nodding once without looking at her mom. She pulled a glass out of a cupboard over the sink and began filling it with tap water.

"Okay," her mom said. "Did you two talk about last night?"

Heather was surprised and slightly annoyed by the question. Well, _duh, _she thought to herself. Did her mom really want to know the answer to that? Maybe she was actually concerned. Did she feel sorry? Or was she just going to tell Heather to suck it up and get over it?

"Sort of," Heather said shortly, her voice even. She moved on to the next subject, not wanting to discuss this with her mom and not wanting to give her mom a chance to further express her opinions about her relationship with Naya. "So what do you wanna do today?"

Thankfully, Mrs. Morris dropped the previous topic and answered her daughter's question. "Well, I thought maybe you could show me around a bit. We could do some shopping. I don't know. Whatever you want to do. I'm up for anything."

* * *

><p>They did end up spending most of the day shopping, as often happened when they were together. Mrs. Morris could not resist wandering around the huge, three-story mall less than ten miles from Heather's apartment, and Heather couldn't complain.<p>

As the day went on, Heather was relieved to find that both she and her mom adhered to their unspoken agreement that they would not discuss what had happened the night before. Things were a little more stilted than usual between them, though. Their normal laughter and teasing was replaced with politeness and smiles that seemed a little too cheerful.

Underneath her friendly demeanor, Heather still felt angry with her mother. As they walked down the middle of the second floor of the shopping mall, she had to remind herself, for the twentieth time that day, to push the feelings aside for now. Each time her mom spoke to her, she had to consciously restrain herself from snapping back at her. It was hard to keep the anger from coming out.

She kept her hand on her phone in her pocket, and every so often it buzzed with a text from Naya. She would pull it out discreetly to read the texts when her mom was busy holding a shirt up to herself or looking for a certain shoe size. The texts were sweet and simple – _thinking about you; miss you; hope you're not spending too much money ;)_, etc. – and they always made Heather smile.

Mrs. Morris wandered into a store that sold fancy kitchen appliances and cutesy dishes and utensils. Heather wasn't really feeling it.

"Hey, Mom, I'm gonna wander over there while you're in here, okay?" Heather said. "I'll just be across the way."

"Okay, honey," Mrs. Morris said, picking up a colorful serving tray.

Heather wandered across the center of the mall, dodging the kiosks and the flow of people coming from either direction, and entered a cluttered store on the other side of the hall.

It was full of tables piled with odd little trinkets – colorful watches, tiny little pillboxes, colored nail clippers, jeweled key chains. One section of a wall was covered with bright scarves, another with patterned reading glasses, a third with decorated wine glasses. Heather glanced over everything without really seeing anything. There was so much to look at that her eyes were moving too fast for her to really take anything in.

Her hip bumped a table accidentally, and she grabbed it nervously, feeling it shake a little bit. When she was sure she wasn't going to knock its contents onto the floor, she took a closer look at what it held – jewelry. Most of it was pretty unique and a little funky. She ran her finger along a necklace that had a stone pendant that lit up and changed colors, big elephant earrings, and a whole row of long dangly necklaces with all kinds of pendants and charms attached to them.

Her eyes stopped on a necklace that had a stand all to itself. It was a thin gold chain with a single pendant on the end – a tiny teacup. Heather rubbed the pendant between her thumb and forefinger, bending a little at the waist and bringing it closer to her eyes. It was a perfect, miniscule little thing: three-dimensional, and set on a tiny saucer. Heather wasn't sure what it was made of – it was white with shiny gold painted around the top edges of the cup and saucer, and it even had a tiny pink flower with light green leaves painted on its surface.

Heather smiled a little bit. It was adorable. She loved it. She loved tea, after all.

She felt her phone buzz against her stomach, in her jacket pocket. She pulled it out and slid it open.

_Did I ever tell you you're beautiful? xoxo_

She grinned like a fool and, free of her mom's eyes, tapped out a reply.

_Not as beautiful as you. :)_

Carefully, with two fingers, she lifted the necklace off its stand and took it up to the cashier at the counter.

* * *

><p>She took her mom out to dinner at a create-your-own-stir-fry place. She could never go wrong at a place like that; and actually, she loved having the ability to choose whatever went into her dinner. She liked to stock up on veggies – the normal ones, like broccoli and spinach, but she also got a thrill out of the weird ones they had at those places, like the tiny corncobs and the water chestnut slices that made a funny crunch when she bit into them.<p>

It was a nice dinner. They both tried and failed to eat with chopsticks. Her mom ended up impaling pieces of her food on the end of one and just sticking the food into her mouth, which made Heather laugh.

"That's probably really bad manners," Heather pointed out, chuckling.

"Probably, but why bother with two when one will do?" her mom asked.

Her mom told her all the news from back home, and it was Heather's turn to ask the questions, which took some of the pressure off. Heather kept the conversation going, trying to prevent any lulls that might provide the opportunity for her mom to mention Naya.

Everything felt almost normal (except for that little angry twinge in Heather's stomach), but she wished that Naya was there and couldn't stop thinking about her. She wondered if she'd ever be able to have a normal dinner (or _any _dinner) with her mom and Naya again.

Suddenly she remembered that Naya had suggested she keep tonight open. But Naya hadn't mentioned any plans all day, so Heather dismissed the thought. Maybe she'd forgotten or figured that Heather was busy.

After dinner, Heather and her mother went home and changed into their pajamas. Mrs. Morris stretched out on the couch, and Heather curled up in a chair in the living room.

"Wanna watch a movie?" Heather asked her, flipping through the channels. "Doesn't look like there's anything good on tv."

"How about _Glee?_" her mom suggested.

"You wanna watch _Glee_?" Heather asked, a little surprised.

"Yeah. I wanna see you," her mom said, smiling over at her from the couch.

"Aww. Well, okay," Heather said. "I have some of the recent episodes on my DVR…"

"Do you mind? You're probably sick of it," her mom said.

"No, no, it's okay. I usually just watch the episodes once, when they air, so it's not like I'm tired of them or anything," Heather said quickly. "Which one do you wanna watch?"

"Pick one where you dance a lot. I like to see my baby dance."

"How about 'Brittany/Britney'? The Britney Spears one?" Heather asked.

"Sounds good," her mom said.

Heather had the episode saved. She turned it on. Almost as soon as she did, she felt a little sick to her stomach, realizing that maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to suggest the episode where she and Naya get their sexy on together in "Me Against the Music." Was it too late to suggest a different one? Probably. It had already started, and that might seem suspicious. And she didn't have any big dance numbers in any of the other episodes she had saved anyway.

"What was it like to meet Britney Spears?" her mom asked.

"Oh, it was so cool. She was awesome," Heather said. "John Stamos, too. It was so much fun doing that dance, you know the one where he's like lying in the chair? Well, you'll see. I was so nervous, though. It was like, surreal."

They sat through "Slave 4 U." Heather grew increasingly tense as the episode went on, but her mom seemed relaxed.

"That snake looks heavy," Mrs. Morris said through a yawn.

Heather smothered her own yawn. "You have no idea," she said. "My arms were shaking afterwards. And he tried to like, stick his head in my mouth once."

"Me Against the Music" began, and Heather sat tensely, desperately wanting it to end. It seemed to last forever. She was torn between wanting to keep an eye on her mom's expression and wanting to watch Naya roll around in the leaves like the sexy dork she was. She grinned a tiny bit as she watched her attempt to sway seductively on that stupid broken swing. She wanted to text her and tell her what she watching, but she was afraid her mom would know she was texting Naya.

To her relief, her mom didn't say anything at all about the song, and neither did Heather. Her mom's face was blank, her lips pursed throughout the song, but she chuckled a little bit at the end when Heather told Britney her breath smelled really good.

Thank god for conflict avoidance tendencies, Heather thought with relief, relaxing a little as the next scene began.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out, unable to resist. It was a text from Naya.

_Whatcha up to?_

She decided to go ahead and text her back. After all, she figured, she could be texting anyone. And at this point, she didn't think her mom would question her about it, anyway. Again, conflict avoidance at its finest.

_Watching Glee with Mom. Britney ep. Trying not to stare too hard at you in that white suit._

She only had to wait a few seconds for Naya's reply.

_Oh god, those dumbass leaves. _

Heather laughed silently to herself.

About three quarters of the way through the episode, she heard gentle snores coming from the couch. Her mom had fallen asleep with her mouth slightly open. Heather wasn't surprised. Her mom had been falling asleep on the couch during television shows and movies for as long as Heather could remember. And it'd been an early day for them both. She wondered if her mom had slept well after their argument last night. She turned the television off.

"Mom," she said quietly. "Mom."

"Hmm?" Mrs. Morris awoke with a start. "Mm, sorry. Fell asleep. Must be tired."

"Let's go to bed. I'm tired, too, and you're snoring. It's only like nine, but we have to get up early."

Her mom mumbled something and got up off the couch. She began to head toward the guest bedroom, and Heather followed her.

"Good night, honey," Mrs. Morris said, turning around to give her daughter a tired hug before heading into the guest bedroom. "See you in the morning."

"Night. We'll have to be up early to get to set. Don't forget to set your alarm," Heather reminded her as she returned the hug loosely before heading to her own bedroom.

She walked slowly through her dark room, arms outstretched, until she bumped into her bed. She kept one hand on it and walked around to her night table, where she switched her lamp on and flopped onto her back on her bed. She pulled out her phone and held it above her face, texting Naya.

_Mom fell asleep. Going to bed. I'm lame._

Naya replied quickly.

_I told you to keep tonight open, girlfriend! I have plans for us :)_

Heather sat up. Plans? So she hadn't forgotten after all. What plans?

_What plans? _she texted Naya. _What if I just wanna go to bed? _

_Sorry babe, you don't have a choice. I'm on my way. Be ready. Dress sexy. ;)_

Heather felt her stomach do a little flip. Dress sexy? Were they going out? She immediately felt the exhaustion in her limbs begin to be replaced by the excitement growing within her. Getting ready for a night out was always a bit of an adrenaline rush, and especially when she was going out with Naya. She bit her lip and grinned. And then realized she only had about twenty-five minutes to get ready.

She jumped up and plugged in her straightening iron, then slid open her closet door, trying to be quiet. Leggings and a shirt? Jeggings? No, not sexy enough. But how sexy was she supposed to be? Super-hot-sexy? Casual sexy?

She decided on a tight, one-shouldered black dress, with one big, loose sleeve, and silver pumps. She threw on a long silver necklace to match and began running the flat iron through her hair before it was really warmed up, trying not to snap it closed too loudly.

When she was done, she stood back to look at herself in the mirror. Not bad. But makeup. She brought her makeup bag back to her room and sat on the floor in front of her mirror.

She got a text from Naya just as she was carefully finishing the mascara on her left eye. Perfect timing.

_Outside your door. Not going to knock. Learned my lesson._

Heather grinned, screwed the top back on her mascara and tossed it back into her makeup bag. She took a last look at herself in the full-length mirror, flipped her bedroom light off and tiptoed as best she could in her heels down the hallway and into the kitchen. She grabbed a pen and scribbled a quick note to her mom, leaving it on the island where she would see it. She didn't see any reason why her mom should wake up and look for her, but she figured it was best to leave a note, especially after the morning debacle.

_Made some last-minute plans with a few friends. Going out for a few hours. I'll be home tonight. – Heather._

She repressed the urge to run to the door, and instead walked as silently as she could, slipping her phone, keys, and wallet into her wristlet and sliding the lock on the door slowly.

Naya was grinning when Heather opened the door. Heather smiled and slipped into the hallway, closing and locking the door quietly behind herself. Then she turned and threw her arms around Naya, kissing her on the mouth. Naya giggled against her lips.

Heather pulled back. "Hi," she whispered, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Hey, hottie," Naya said, standing back to look at Heather. "You follow directions well."

Heather grinned and took Naya by the hand. Naya looked perfect. Heather wanted to smother her in kisses, wanted to tell her over and over how happy she was that she was there. It felt like magic, the way she could just show up outside her door and instantly make everything feel okay – _better _than okay.

"I'm so excited," she said, grinning, as they made their way downstairs.

"You don't even know what we're doing yet," Naya laughed, bumping Heather with her hip.

"Doesn't matter. I can't wait. I'm so happy you're here," Heather gushed.

Naya squeezed her hand and giggled in excitement.

"So…what _are _we doing?" Heather asked.

"You'll see," Naya said, as they made their way to Naya's car. She opened the passenger-side door for Heather. "Just doing my girlfriendly duties," she said, smiling. She closed the door behind Heather and walked around to climb into the driver's seat.

"I love when you do your girlfriendly duties," Heather said. "It's adorable."

"Well, you know," Naya said, trying not to smile as she pulled out into the street. "I do what I can."

"God, I love you so much," Heather said.

Naya smiled hugely, biting one side of her bottom lip. She reached over with her right hand and felt around Heather's lap until she found her hand and intertwined their fingers. Heather placed her other hand over Naya's and rubbed her thumb gently over her smooth skin.

"I thought you might need some time to relax and have some fun after, you know, this weekend," Naya said. "How was today, anyway?"

"It was actually okay," Heather said truthfully. "We didn't really talk about it. I'm still kind of mad, but it was nice to just pretend like it never happened for a while. I mean, I'll have to think about it eventually, but…I tried not to think about it today. Actually, I felt a lot better after I talked to you about it. More…confident, I guess. More sure of myself."

Naya took her eyes off the road to look over at Heather for a second. "I'm glad," she said, her voice gentle and solemn.

"Me, too," Heather said quietly. "I think it's just going to take some time." She turned in her seat toward Naya, suddenly excited. "So where are we going?"

"Well," Naya said loudly, drawing out the word. "Since you insist on knowing, our first stop will be at the house of one Chris Colfer."

"Mmm!" Heather squealed happily. "We're going to see our little Christopher? What's he got going on?"

"Oh, he's having a small get-together," Naya said, one corner of her mouth quirking up in a smile.

"And what does this small get-together entail?" Heather asked.

"You ask too many questions. You're not allowed any more," Naya said stubbornly.

"Can I ask yes or no questions?" Heather asked.

Naya paused as if in thought. "You can ask _one_," she said firmly. "So make it good."

"Only one?" Heather said. "Well, geez. Now I have to reconsider." She thought for a moment.

"You know we're going to be there in like… seven minutes anyway," Naya said.

"Shhh. I'm thinking," Heather shushed her. "Okay. I've got it. Will I get to dance with you?"

"Will you get to dance with me? That's your question?" Naya asked.

"Yes. Now you have to answer. Yes or no," Heather insisted.

"Dance how?"

"Like, sexy dance," Heather said teasingly. "What other kind is there?"

"Sexy dance. Okay," Naya said, and Heather thought she heard her swallow. "Well, that's not really fair, because my answer will potentially answer a lot of questions, like will there be music, will we be drinking, will it be a party, will we be going out…"

"I dance even when I'm sober," Heather pointed out. "And sometimes when there's no music. So is that a yes?"

Naya pulled her hand from Heather's and started to gently pinch below Heather's ribs, tickling her and making her squirm in her seat and laugh. She strained against the seat belt, twisting her body away from Naya's fingers.

"Eyes on the road!" Heather yelled through her laughter, to make Naya stop. "If we crash we'll never get there! Also is that a yes?"

"Yes, that's a yes, you dork," Naya laughed, most of her attention returning to the road.

"Yes to all the questions or just the one question?" Heather pressed.

"I can't answer that! I said only one question!" Naya said, turning onto a residential street.

"I'll take that as a yes to all of the above," Heather said smugly.

Naya chuckled. "You're so cute when you get like that."

"Like what?"

"All cocky and stubborn."

"You like it when I'm cocky?" Heather asked, one eyebrow raised.

"I like you every way," Naya said with a grin.

Heather softened. "Aww, baby," she said, smiling over at Naya.

She wanted to kiss her so badly that she briefly considered leaning over the center console to peck her on the cheek, but then she decided it would be too awkward in her dress and too distracting while Naya was driving. And anyway what she really wanted was to kiss her on the lips.

"Here we are!" Naya announced suddenly, pulling Heather away from her own thoughts.

Heather clapped her hands and bounced in her seat like a five-year-old, looking around as Naya pulled up on the street alongside the curb behind another car. "Yay! Hey, look at all the cars! Looks like Amber's here. And Kevin. And Cory! Is everyone here?"

"Well, they'd better be! I invited them!" Naya said, getting out of the car.

"_You _invited them to Chris's house?" Heather asked, closing her own door behind her.

"Okay, so we both invited them," Naya explained. "We just decided to get together at Chris's place."

"This is awesome!" Heather said. She was always happy to spend time with her cast mates. In fact, they spent ridiculous amounts of time together and never got tired of one another.

She took Naya's hand again and they walked side-by-side up the sidewalk and onto the front porch, where Naya rang the doorbell. Heather could hear sock-covered feet pounding against the hard wood floors inside. The door swung open, and Chris welcomed them.

"Ladies," he said. "Glad you could make it!" He stood back to let them in, and then gave them both hugs. "How are you both?"

"Excellent," Heather said. "Thanks for having us over!"

"Well, we are all in the kitchen if you'd like to join us," Chris said, holding an arm out to point the way.

They walked toward the noise, down the hallway in front of them and into the kitchen/dining room at the back of the house. It was warm and bright, and the table was crowded with extra chairs and covered with cards, beer cans, and glasses. Everyone was squeezed around the table.

"Wow, everyone's here! Hi, guys!" Heather said, and Mark, Cory, Amber, Dianna, Kevin, Jenna, Harry, and Darren turned to look at them and shouted greetings and waved them over.

"Ladies!" Lea appeared behind them and slipped her arms around their waists. Heather lifted her arm to avoid knocking Lea's glass out of her hand. "So glad you're finally here! You two need to get caught up drink-wise! Let me make you something, come on."

Heather and Naya followed her around the kitchen counter, grinning.

"So we _are _drinking. I was right about that," Heather said, nudging Naya.

"Well, of _course _we are drinking!" Lea said loudly, pulling a bottle of vodka and cranberry juice out of the fridge. "It's not much of a night unless you can't remember it the next day, right?" she teased, and laughed. "No, no, I'm just kidding. I mean, we do have to be on set tomorrow, after all, so we're not getting plastered."

She poured two shots into each of Heather's and Naya's glasses, filled them with cranberry juice, and handed them off with a smile.

"Just drunk," she said, and winked at Naya.

"I think you might already be there," Heather said to her.

"Hey, now, I have only had two and a half drinks so far. I really think my small stature has something to do with it. Anyway, bottoms up, ladies, and here's to tonight." She clinked her own glass against Heather's and Naya's, and they all took a sip.

Lea headed back over to the table. Heather looked at Naya and they both smothered laughter before they followed Lea. Chris appeared with two extra chairs, and Heather and Naya demanded that everyone "scooch" so they could fit in. They squeezed their chairs in between Amber and Kevin.

"What are we playing?" Naya asked. "Kings?"

"Looks like it," Heather answered, looking at the can of beer in the middle of the table. It looked as though a third of a deck of cards had been squeezed tightly underneath the tab. The rest of the cards were spread out, face down, on the table around the can.

"Watch it, Cory's the Question Master," Amber told Heather and Naya. "If he asks you a question and you answer, you have to drink."

Heather looked warily at Cory, who was chatting with Dianna beside him. Dianna caught her eye and smiled. Heather winked at her.

"I'm glad you know how to throw a classy party, Chris," Heather teased Chris, who was standing between Mark and Darren.

"I do, thank you very much, but tonight is not a night of class. It's a night to just…let go and have fun," Chris said. "Anyway, you can thank Naya for tonight's mood. It was her idea."

Heather turned to Naya, raising an eyebrow. "Always the party animal," she said, sliding a hand onto Naya's thigh.

"I just thought you might need a relaxing, wild night!" Naya said.

"Is that an oxymoron?" Mark asked.

"Shut up, Mark," Naya said, trying to kick his leg under the table. He laughed.

"Anyway, it'll be more wild than relaxing at 31," Mark said.

"What's 31?" Heather asked.

"It's where we're going tonight," Naya said. "It's a gay club. I hope you don't mind. I thought it would be fun for all of us to go."

Heather opened her mouth in sudden understanding. She'd been to gay bars before, with various cast mates and other friends, but never with Naya. She felt a mixture of nerves and excitement at the thought of just being in a gay club with her girlfriend. She was glad that their cast mates were going to be with them, though. It would take some focus off of herself and Naya.

"Is that okay?" Naya asked her, a little nervously. "We don't have to go if you don't want to," she said quickly. "It's totally no big deal."

"No, no," Heather said. "I mean, yeah. That sounds awesome." She grinned and squeezed Naya's knee.

Naya grinned back at her and placed a hand over Heather's. "Good," she said, squeezing her fingers. "I wanted this night to kind of be for you. I mean," she lowered her voice, "I didn't like, tell everyone what happened between you and your mom. I just said that you were in need of a fun night, and I suggested 31, and everyone was totally down."

Heather grinned. She wanted to grab Naya and squeeze and never let go. "What if I had like, gone to bed instead of coming?" Heather asked, curious.

"I would've gone to your apartment, dragged you out of bed, dressed you myself, and carried you to the car if I had to," Naya said.

"Oh, naturally," Heather said, and Naya shrugged and nodded. They both laughed. "Well, thank you. This is great."

Naya squeezed her hand and smiled. "You're welcome. It's going to be fun."

"Hey, break it up over there!" Cory said. "I think it's your turn, HeMo. Have you gone yet?"

"No," Heather said.

"_Oooohhhh!" _everyone immediately howled, and Heather looked around, confused.

"Drink!"

"You have to drink!"

"You answered his question!"

Heather groaned with a smile. "Fine, fine!" She took a big swig of her drink and fought back a grimace. "Damn, Lea. This is strong."

"Gotta make up for lost time!" Lea giggled.

"We gonna be dancin' tonight!" Kevin said loudly.

"Oh hell to the no. I'mma have to babysit your asses," Amber said.

Heather looked at Amber as if shocked. "Amber! You're not dancing? Are you not drinking?"

"I'm not drinking _or _dancing. I've got a song to record tomorrow and there's no way I'm going in hung over. And anyway, I'm one of the DDs tonight."

"Okay, you don't have to drink, but you _do_ have to dance! I'm making you dance with me! You and me, Amber!" Heather said, throwing an arm around her and leaning her head on Amber's shoulder.

Amber pursed her lips and shook her head, fighting a smile. She patted Heather's back.

It was Harry's turn to draw a card. "Six!" he announced, holding up a card so everyone could see the six of clubs. "Six is for chicks!"

"Nuh uh!" Naya yelled over the noise of groans and chatter. "Six is for dicks! Six is for _dicks_, Harry!"

"No way, Rivera. Six is for chicks. Drink up, ladies!" Mark said.

"Who made up these rules, anyway?" Naya asked grumpily. She made a face but drank along with the rest of the girls as Harry slid his card underneath the pull-tab of the beer can.

"Face it, you're getting tipsy either way," Dianna said, raising her glass at Naya with a smile.

When it was Kevin's turn, he pulled an ace. "Waterfall, y'all!" he shouted, bringing his cup to his lips. "You can't stop drinking until the person before you does!" he explained for anyone who didn't know. And with that he began to drink.

One by one, glasses were lifted and set down around the table. When it got to Heather, she started drinking, but when Darren (who was on Amber's right) stopped, Heather kept going, forcing Naya to continue drinking as well. Naya looked at Heather over her cup, raising both eyebrows at her. Heather raised hers as well and kept drinking until her glass was empty.

"_Day_-um!" Kevin said. "HeMo means business!"

Naya put her empty glass down after Heather did. She reached over and shoved at Heather's shoulder, then gripped her arm and pulled her towards herself. "Now you're just trying to get me drunk," she said loudly, squeezing Heather against her.

"Maybe," Heather giggled, her voice muffled against Naya's collarbone.

Heather could feel the warmth of the alcohol creeping into her face already. It felt good. The first couple of drinks were always the best – the warm flush, the sudden relaxation and contentment. She felt so, so happy.

She knew that, with a few more drinks, she was going to have a really hard time keeping her hands off Naya. Naya was already looking at her with that _look _in her eyes – eye contact that lasted a couple seconds too long. Her eyes got that glint in them. It was almost animal, like she wanted to kiss Heather more than anything in the world. It made Heather shiver and feel warm in her belly.

"Come on, let's get another drink," she said to Naya, and squeezed out of her place at the table.

At the counter, Heather grabbed the vodka bottle and poured Naya two more shots. She dumped them quickly into Naya's glass before pouring out her own.

"Same thing okay?" she asked.

Naya put a hand on the small of her back and stepped close to Heather. "Yeah," she said. She began moving her hand slowly back and forth, and then she leaned over to whisper in Heather's ear. "You look so sexy tonight."

Heather shivered and felt electricity shoot through her body, starting at her heart and traveling downward like a flash to settle heavily between her legs. One side of her mouth turned up in a smile. She glanced over at the table quickly, before turning to Naya and placing her hands around her waist.

"So do you," she whispered, and she kissed her, just once, with lips closed. It was barely enough, and already she could feel her heart pounding between her legs. She sighed against Naya's lips, looking into her eyes.

Naya tore herself away and grabbed their drinks, handing one to Heather. She clicked her glass against Heather's and raised and lowered her eyebrows once, quickly.

"Come on." She held her hand out and Heather took it before they walked back to the table.

As the next game progressed, Heather and Naya slowly seemed to gravitated toward one another. Their chairs were pressed together, and Naya was leaning into Heather, her hand resting on the inside of Heather's thigh. Heather could barely concentrate on the game, could barely drink when she was supposed to. Her heart was beating fast and she was ridiculously turned on, all because of that one hand on her thigh, so close to _there. _

* * *

><p>Amber drove Naya, Heather, Dianna, and Lea to 31. Dianna sat in the passenger seat, and Lea insisted on sitting in the middle seat in the back.<p>

"Wait, wait, wait up, _I'm _sitting in the middle!" she had called, unsteadily grabbing Naya's arm just as Naya had been stepping into the vehicle. Heather was already sitting on the other side, reaching a hand out for Naya.

"What? No, _I _am," Naya said, but Lea had caused her to lose her balance, and both of her feet returned to the ground, where she swayed against the open door.

"Oh, good _Lord_," Amber said, walking over to them. "The things I do for your drunk asses." She grabbed Lea's upper arm and helped hoist her into the backseat.

"_Thank _you," Lea said loudly, scooting over beside Heather.

"Hey!" Naya said. "That was my seat!"

"Stop being a baby and get in," Amber said, helping Naya up. "Sorry honey, but nobody's allowed to get their mack on in my backseat."

"I wasn't gonna _kiss_ her," Naya complained.

"Sure, you weren't," Amber said, closing the door behind Naya and climbing into the front.

"That may be true, but you _were _going to have your hand up her dress," Lea said matter-of-factly.

"Was not!" Naya said, smacking Lea on the shoulder.

Heather giggled and blushed, one hand over her mouth. She was pretty sure that that _was _what would have happened if she'd sat next to Naya. She was glad they didn't have to go through the embarrassment of getting caught. But Naya was so far away…

"It's only a fifteen-minute drive, you'll be okay," Amber said as she backed out of Chris's driveway.

"Plus, this is a better arrangement for our voices," Lea said loudly. "Di, turn it up!"

Dianna turned the radio up, and Lea began belting out Pitbull's "Hey Baby."

"_Hey, baby girl, whatcha doin' tonight, I wanna see what you got in store…"_

"Yeah, because your voice is so perfect for this song," Naya said, rolling her eyes at Lea.

"Shhh!" Lea waved her hands to shush her, then lowered her voice and sang, "_Oooh, baby ba-beh_," and then pointed at Naya and Heather, who obediently sang, "_Na na na na na na na_."

Soon they were all laughing so hard they could barely sing, except for Lea, who continued to expertly belt out the song until the end, her normally beautiful voice low and gravelly to fit the song. She clapped. "Brava, ladies!"

Lea spent the whole ride designating parts for everyone to sing, and Heather laughed so hard she was afraid she was going to pee if she didn't get to a bathroom soon. Dianna manned the radio, scanning the stations to find the best multi-part songs.

Heather was almost sad when Amber slowed to a stop in the parking lot of 31 and the entertaining car ride came to an end, but her excitement quickly picked up when Lea whooped and shoved at her.

"Get out, get out! Come on, it's time to dance!"

Heather clambered out of the car and helped Lea down. Both of them wobbled a bit in their high heels. Heather felt a little bit dizzy, and the parking lot kept moving back and forth in front of her eyes whenever she moved too fast.

"_Whoo_, gotta slow down a little," she said, walking over to Naya and draping an arm around her shoulders. "I'm tipsy as hell."

"So am I," Naya giggled, slipping an arm around Heather's waist and curling her fingers to tickle her side slightly.

"Diiii," Lea whined, wobbling over to Dianna's side. "Carry me."

"Lea," Dianna laughed. "You're too heavy and you're wearing a dress, and anyway I'm too tipsy."

Lea whined and leaned into Dianna's side, snaking her arms around her waist as they made their way across the parking lot. "But I looove you," she said. "You're pretty."

"And you're drunk," Dianna giggled.

"Nahhh," Lea said, shaking her head. "Amber! Amber, come here." She kept one arm around Dianna's waist and slid the other around Amber's shoulders, pulling her close. "Thanks for driving, Amber." She smiled into the side of her face.

"Mmmhm," Amber said, pursing her lips together in a smile. "Crazy girl."

"They beat us here!" Naya said, pointing at the rest of their friends, waiting outside beside the door.

"How was the ride over?" Chris asked Amber. Chris had driven the other group in his own vehicle.

"Crazy," Amber said.

"Don't listen to her, Christopher. It was fabulous, and I bet you're jealous you didn't get to ride with us," Lea said loudly.

"I am incredibly jealous," Chris said, playing along with a smile.

"Well, are we gonna go in or what?" Heather asked excitedly.

"Yeah, I needs me another drink!" Naya agreed.

They got in line behind the few people who were waiting and shuffled into the club. Inside, there was a long bar along the right wall, and tables and couches lined the other three walls. A large dance floor filled the center of the club, lit with multi-colored lights from the ceiling. On the far side of the bar, there were a few steps leading down into another room. It was pretty busy, even for a Sunday night.

Lea honed in immediately on a small stage set up in one corner.

"Oh my god!" she squealed. "Is that karaoke?"

A young man standing nearby turned to answer her. "Yep, it's karaoke night!" he said with a smile. "Every other song is a karaoke song."

Lea squealed again. "Let's sing! I'm going to sing. Somebody sing with me! Let's _all _sing _together!"_

"Because _that _won't draw any extra attention to us," Mark said. "I think I'll pass."

Heather secretly agreed. She didn't want to draw any extra attention to the fact that, yeah, they were the _Glee _cast and they were all there together. She wanted to relax and just have fun with Naya without worrying about people watching them.

"Come on. Drinks!" Naya grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the bar.

Once everyone who wanted one had a drink, they all found a couple tables and a couch together along one wall. Heather pulled Naya onto the couch beside her and immediately took her hand in hers. She watched the people on the dance floor. There were all sorts of couples – girls with girls, boys with boys, and boys with girls. She felt more comfortable than usual. Yes, they were in public, but this felt like a different kind of public. One where she didn't stick out so much when she held Naya's hand.

"Are you having fun?" Naya asked her, putting her mouth up to Heather's ear so she could hear her.

"Yes," Heather said, grinning. "I wanna dance!"

"Okay, hang on." Naya began throwing back her drink, cringing a little bit at the taste. "Well, I don't want them to take my glass before I'm done!" she explained to Heather, who was watching her with an amused expression on her face. She reached over to slide it onto the table near Amber's elbow.

"Okay, let's go!" Heather grabbed Naya's hand and pulled her up. She walked as steadily as she could into the crowd of people on the dance floor.

Once she was dancing, the wobbly, unsteady feeling in her limbs disappeared, lost in the smooth movements of her body. She rocked perfectly in time to the pounding beat. It felt so good, the dancing and the music and the fuzzy contentment in her head, and Naya with her arms above her head in front of her, swaying to the beat in the dark, green and blue and orange lights flashing over her face.

The song ended, and a new one started. A very familiar one – and not one Heather usually heard in clubs.

"Oh god," Naya said, turning toward Heather and gripping her arm. "Please tell me it's not -"

"It is!" Heather said, throwing her head back in laughter. "Look!" She pointed to the corner of the room, where the miniature stage was set up. Lea and Darren were standing there, mics in hand, as the beginning notes of "Don't You Want Me Baby" blared through the speakers.

"Oh my god!" Naya groaned.

Suddenly Dianna came up behind them, and Naya and Heather turned to her and grabbed at her, laughing. Dianna laughed when she saw how hard they were laughing.

"I told them not to! Talk about lying low!" Dianna shouted over the music.

"This is so fabulous!" Heather shouted.

"At least Lea's not wearing that hideous dress," Naya said, and they all dissolved into laughter again.

Lea, thankfully, refrained from hopping around onstage, as she was wearing high heels and was quite drunk. Heather was a little afraid she might fall off the stage, but at least Darren was up there with her, and he looked pretty steady.

"That was like, the best moment of the night," Heather said, as Lea and Darren finished the song and stepped off the stage (after Lea thanked the crowd several times).

They watched as Lea wove her way toward them through the crowd. Heather and Naya both opened their mouths to say something to her, but she just waved her hand in front of their faces with a mischievous glint in her eye and said, "It's okay guys, no need to say it, I already know how fabulous I was…" She grabbed Dianna's hand and dragged her back toward their table as the next song started.

Heather turned back to Naya, grinning, and began dancing again. She placed her hands on Naya's waist and moved closer so they could sway together, their hips matching each other's rhythm. Soon she was breathing hard, from the dancing and from the feeling of Naya's warm body pressed against the front of hers. The beat felt like it was in her head, in her hips, and in between her legs. Especially in between her legs. She couldn't get close enough to Naya.

Naya reached behind Heather, sliding her hands down from Heather's back to her bottom. She squeezed, still moving in time to the music. Heather groaned quietly, dropping her head to Naya's shoulder. "I want you so bad," she said, lips moving against her ear.

Naya pulled back to look into Heather's eyes. She smirked, eyes dark, eyelids heavy, and turned around so that her back was against Heather's chest. She put her hands over Heather's, and Heather let her move them so that her palms were flat against Naya's stomach, just above her low-cut jeggings. They moved together.

Naya turned her head so that her mouth was against Heather's jaw. Heather could feel her breathing hard. Her breath was warm and damp against Heather's skin.

Another surge of electricity shot through Heather's body and settled between her legs. God, she wanted Naya. She was dying to slide her hands lower, into Naya's pants, or higher, to cup her breasts. But she just held them there, against Naya's stomach, and moved with her, feeling herself winding tighter and tighter, heart beating fast. She was sure Naya could feel it beating against her back.

When the song ended, she took Naya's hand and led her through the crowd to the bar, where she asked the bartender for two beers.

"HeMo..." Naya said.

"One more!" Heather said, slinging an arm around Naya's neck and swaying heavily into her with a huge, innocent smile. "I promise this is our last one."

"Don't you think you've had enough already?" Naya asked, gripping Heather around the waist and bracing herself against her weight. "Come on, you're okay." She placed a palm against Heather's ribs and helped right her again, keeping one hand on her back.

Heather just kept gazing at Naya and smiling like a fool. Her brain was all fuzzy and all she could think about was Naya's face and her eyes and her hair and just _her_. She wanted to kiss her. Who cared if people were looking? Who cared if she was in a crowded bar? The only thing that mattered was Naya and how beautiful she looked and how much Heather loved her.

"Oh my god, it's Santana and Brittany!" Two guys bounced over to Heather and Naya, enthralled and excited.

Heather smiled at them, surprised, and stood up straighter.

"You two are fabulous! We love Santana! She's our favorite bitch ever!" one of them said, touching Naya's arm excitedly.

"But you can't beat Brittany's one-liners," the other guy said, looking at Heather. "I'm Michael by the way, and this is Aaron." They shook hands with Heather and Naya.

"It's nice to meet you!" Heather and Naya said. "Glad you like the show!"

"I'd ask you for an autograph, but I don't have paper or pen. Anyway, you two probably wanna lie low. Don't worry, we won't make a scene," Aaron whispered conspiratorially.

"It was so great to meet you!" Michael said, and they both hugged Heather and Naya before wandering off to dance. Heather and Naya laughed and watched them go.

The bartender placed two bottles of beer in front of Naya. She grabbed one and stuck the other in Heather's hand.

"Come on," she said, and led Heather by the hand around the perimeter of the dance floor and down three steps into a room at the back. It was large, dimly lit, and full of more tables and couches. Naya and Heather sat down on a couch, placing their beers on the little table in front of them.

Heather leaned into Naya, her head on Naya's shoulder.

"You are so wasted," Naya laughed.

"Nah, I'm okay. I can sober up," Heather said, smiling. "Don't worry. I'm okay."

"Okay," Naya said, as though she didn't believe her.

"Can I kiss you?" Heather asked.

Naya looked up at her. "Really? Right here?"

Heather nodded, leaning closer.

"You sure?" Naya asked.

Heather nodded again. "Yeah. Wait." She stopped suddenly.

She scooted closer, so she was pressed against Naya's side, and leaned close to her ear.

"I realized something!" she said.

"Yeah? What did you realize?" Naya asked, grinning at her.

"When I was watching _Glee _with my mom, I realized something. I _am _like Brittany," Heather said against Naya's ear.

"What do you mean?" Naya asked.

Heather shifted and put her hand on Naya's thigh. "My mom told me I'm like Brittany, and she meant it in a bad way, but I think she was right. I _am _like Brittany. Except not in the way my mom thinks," Heather explained. She was trying hard to get this out. It seemed important, but her thoughts were swirling and Naya's lips were so red and perfect.

Naya was looking hard at her, eyes thoughtful, trying to understand.

"Can I just kiss you?" Heather asked, her face breaking into a smile.

Naya smiled and closed her eyes as Heather leaned toward her. She kissed her hard, slipping her hand from Naya's cheek around to the back of her neck, to the warmth underneath her hair. Her body thrummed with desire.

"Okay," Naya breathed, pulling back slightly when she felt Heather's tongue against her lips.

Heather whined quietly, eyes closed, hand still on Naya's neck.

"You've got to slow down or I won't be able to stop," Naya whispered.

Heather grinned. "But I don't want to stop."

"I know. But we have to."

"But why?"

"Because, doofus. There are people."

"Can't we just go home?" Heather asked, biting her lip.

"We have to wait for everyone else."

Heather groaned again. "Let's go to the bathroom," she said.

"I am not having sex in a bathroom stall in a gay bar," Naya said.

"Why not? Isn't that like, a rite of passage?" Heather wheedled her.

"Come on," Naya said. "You need to dance off that alcohol. Leave your beer. Let's go." She took Heather's hand and pulled her off the couch.

An hour later, Heather's feet were aching in her high heels as she made her way back to the cars with the group. She was sweaty, some of the heaviness had returned to her limbs, and she was no longer drunk. Tipsy, but not drunk. She felt a contented kind of tiredness in her body. Naya's hand was clasped in hers.

They stopped at Chris's house to change cars, and Naya drove Heather back to her apartment and walked her up to her door. She slipped her arms around Heather's neck and kissed her deeply.

"Good night, baby," she said.

"Come in with me," Heather said.

"Uh-uh," Naya shook her head. "Your mom's in there. No way."

"I'm drunk. I need you to walk me to my bedroom."

"You're not that drunk," Naya said.

Heather clasped her hands behind Naya's back and pulled her body flush against hers, slipping one thigh in between Naya's. She kissed her again, slowly, and ran her hands up Naya's back to her neck and back down, sliding her right hand around to rest against her ribs, just below her breast.

"Please," she whispered.

Naya was breathing harder now. She hesitated and squirmed a little beneath Heather's warm palm. "HeMo…" she whined, smiling in spite of herself.

"Come on…" Heather whispered. She leaned in to place soft, warm kisses against Naya's neck. Naya's arms tightened around Heather's back, and her hips pressed down against Heather's thigh. Heather heard her breathing pick up, and she knew she had her. She nipped softly at the skin below Naya's ear.

"Come on, baby," she whispered again.

Naya sighed. "Okay. But we have to be really quiet," she said. "Like really, really quiet."

Heather grinned and kissed her again. "Deal."

She slid the key into the lock of her door and turned it slowly. She and Naya slipped inside, and she closed and locked the door behind them. Naya's hand never left her waist. Heather was terrified that her mom would open the door of the guest bedroom and catch them, but she couldn't hear any movement from the other side of the door, and she was too excited to care much. She took Naya's hand in hers, curled it up toward her chest, and walked slowly down the hall with her without turning on a light.

She made sure to lock the door of her bedroom before turning to Naya.

"Finally," she whispered. She slipped her arms around Naya's waist and kissed her. She tried to go slow, but her tongue was in Naya's mouth almost as soon as she started, and Naya was pulling her tightly against her chest. Her heart was pounding between her legs for at least the twentieth time that night.

She walked Naya slowly backward to her bed in the dark. Naya sat down when the backs of her legs bumped the edge of the mattress, and Heather reached down to pull her shirt over her head, fingertips sliding up Naya's sides as she went, leaving trails of goosebumps behind.

Naya shivered and slid her hands underneath Heather's dress, lifting it up so she could kiss her belly softly, around her navel and then lower, before dragging her lips slowly up to where her dress was bunched below her breasts.

Heather's breathed heavily and crossed her arms to pull her dress over her head and drop it unceremoniously on the floor. Naya reached around to unhook Heather's bra without taking her lips from her skin. She slid it down Heather's arms and pulled her closer, hands sliding over her bottom and down the backs of her thighs. Heather felt Naya's warm breath against her nipple and shuddered when she took it into her mouth, pressing the palm of her hand against her other breast.

Heather rested one hand on Naya's head, fingers tangling in her dark hair, and moaned quietly.

"Shhh," Naya said, kissing a spot below her ribs.

Heather snapped the hook of Naya's bra, and Naya slid it off.

"Lie down," Heather breathed, pushing gently against Naya's shoulder. She crawled onto the bed as Naya fell back onto her elbows and pulled herself up to the top, so her head was lying on Heather's pillow.

Heather fit her body in between Naya's thighs and lowered herself gently onto Naya. Naya's breasts and belly were warm and soft against hers. Heather propped herself up on one elbow and slid the other one gently over Naya's skin, from the top of her shoulder, over her collarbone and between her breasts.

"I love you," she breathed, her face inches from Naya's.

"I love you, too," Naya whispered.

Heather captured Naya's lips with her own and reached down to unbutton Naya's jeggings. Naya helped her push them off her hips, and Heather sat back on her knees and peeled them off her bent legs. She tossed them on the floor before slowly pulling Naya's panties down and off her body. She lowered herself again between Naya's bent legs, feeling Naya's wetness against the skin below her bellybutton.

She kissed her, their tongues sliding against one another, her hand kneading Naya's breast, until they were both breathing hard. She brushed her lips over Naya's jaw and kissed down to her neck, where she sucked gently and pressed her tongue against her skin.

Naya's breathing was erratic, and Heather felt her squirm underneath her, chest heaving. Her hips rolled upward, pressing hard into Heather's belly, and her fingers curled into her back. She whined quietly.

"Shhh," Heather said, laughing breathily. "Remember we have to be quiet."

"Oh – god, it's so h-hard," Naya said around sharp breaths.

_That's what she said, _Heather thought, grinning. Instead she whispered, her voice low, "I haven't even touched you yet."

Naya rolled her hips against Heather again in response, biting down hard on her bottom lip. Heather could feel how wet she was. She slid her hand down from Naya's breast and slipped her fingers into the wetness between Naya's legs. She pressed her own cheek to Naya's so that they were both breathing into one another's ears and began rubbing slow circles around the swollen bundle of nerves at the top.

Naya moaned quietly against Heather's ear, and Heather stilled her hand. "Baby," she warned quietly.

"_Oh_, don't stop," Naya breathed, pressing her hips up into Heather's hand.

"Sorry." Heather smiled and continued to rub slow circles. She rocked her own hips down into her hand, breathing hard, and bit her lip to keep from moaning. "_Fuck_," she breathed instead.

She felt Naya roll her hips up again, and she rubbed harder against Naya's clit, making faster circles. "Do you want me inside you?" she asked.

"Yeah," Naya breathed, fingers digging into Heather's back, holding her tight against her chest.

Heather slid two fingers slowly inside Naya, watching Naya's lips part and hearing her breath catch in her throat as she did so. She covered Naya's mouth with her own as she started moving slowly in and out, sliding her tongue into Naya's mouth. Naya broke the kiss, panting.

"Faster," she said, and she slid her hand in between their bodies to rub circles on Heather's clit.

Heather moaned at the unexpected touch, lifting her hips slightly to make room for Naya's hand. Her movements inside Naya faltered.

"Keep going," Naya said, and they found a rhythm, rocking against one another. Heather felt Naya slide two fingers inside her, and she shook, unable to hold herself up any longer. Her body rested heavily on top of Naya's as they moved.

"Come on, baby. Let go," Heather panted into Naya's ear, and Naya tensed and trembled beneath her, her fingers stilling but staying inside Heather. Heather felt Naya's breath catch in her lungs for several seconds, and then her chest heaved against Heather's as she gasped for breath, coming down from her high.

Naya put an arm around Heather's waist and rolled her over slowly, straddling her, without removing her fingers. She continued to move inside of her, and Heather lifted her hips into Naya's hand, feeling that wonderful pressure building low in her abdomen. She moaned.

"Oh, _god. _Oh, _fuck," _she panted. It felt so good. She couldn't _not _make a sound. The sounds just came out.

"Quiet, baby," Naya whispered. She lowered herself onto Heather so she could kiss her, but Heather couldn't move her mouth to kiss. Her lips were parted and her breathing was erratic. She wrapped her arms around Naya and held her close, heads fitting into the space over one other's shoulders, damp cheeks pressed together.

Naya flattened her palm against Heather's clit and pressed down, and Heather came, moaning once before catching herself and biting down on her lip, nearly drawing blood.

"Shhh, shh," Naya whispered against her lips, still moving inside her.

Heather shivered as the last few tremors faded, and she relaxed into the mattress.

"Wait," she said, as Naya started to remove her fingers.

"What is it?" Naya whispered.

"Just stay there a second," Heather said, her hand around Naya's wrist. "It just feels good."

Naya leaned down to kiss her lazily, before slowly drawing her fingers out as Heather's grip around her wrist slackened.

"Do you think we were quiet enough?" Naya whispered, slipping off Heather and snuggling into her side, her head on Heather's shoulder.

Heather lazily used her foot to lift and grab the blanket at the bottom of the bed. She pulled it up around herself and Naya.

"I think so," she said. "God, it wasn't easy, though."

Naya yawned. "You're telling me."

"Thanks for taking me out tonight," Heather whispered sleepily, wrapping her arms around Naya's warm body.

Naya kissed her collarbone softly. "Thanks for coming out," she whispered, and Heather felt her smile against her skin.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: A huge apology for the recent lack of updates. I'm a senior Writing major, so needless to say I've been working hard on my final writing projects, and that leaves very little time for fanfiction. I've not forgotten, though. There should be one more update after this one to finish out the fic. **

**Thank you for reading, commenting, and sticking with me! You guys are great!**

Chapter 15

_No, I don't want no scrub, a scrub is a guy who can't get no love from me…_

Heather frowned sleepily without opening her eyes. She rolled her head to the side, and her cheek came to rest on a warm, bare shoulder.

_Hangin' out the passenger side of his best friend's ride, tryin' to holla at me…_

She groaned quietly and stretched one arm above her head, her palm pressed flat against the headboard, before turning into Naya's body. She draped her arm over Naya's belly and snuggled in closer, inhaling against her warm golden skin.

Her eyes snapped open suddenly.

"Shit," she whispered. She propped herself up on an elbow and leaned over Naya, her chest pressing into her girlfriend's stomach as she reached for her phone on the bedside table. Naya groaned and shifted slightly, pinned.

"Shit, shit, shit. _Fuck_." Heather checked the time and hit the snooze button on her cell phone alarm. "Baby." She put a hand on Naya's belly and moved it back and forth slightly. "Naya. Wake up. We need to get up."

Naya moaned. She brought the back of her hand up to rub sleepily at her eyes, frowning.

"It's not time to get up," she said, her voice groggy. "We just went to sleep."

"Mmm," Heather hummed, lowering her head to rest on Naya's shoulder. "You are a hot. Mess," she whispered into her ear.

"So are you," Naya said without opening her eyes, and Heather grinned and kissed her cheek.

A small smile grew slowly on Naya's face, and she moved her hand away from her eyes and rolled onto her side to face Heather. "I don't wanna get up," Naya complained. She rested her palm against Heather's cheek and closed her eyes again. "Too tired," she sighed.

"I'll wake you up," Heather said. She scooted closer and pecked Naya on the lips a few times. "Come on, pretty girl."

Naya repressed a smile. "Not working," she said.

"No?" Heather pushed against Naya's shoulder, rolled her onto her back, and slipped a leg over her hips to straddle her. Naya's bare body was warm from sleep and from being cocooned between the blankets and Heather's body. Heather leaned down and kissed softly at the corner of Naya's lips before moving over her jaw and down her neck to kiss softly at her pulse point.

"How about now?" she mumbled against her skin, darting her tongue out to lick Naya's neck.

Naya laughed softly through her nose and wrapped her arms around Heather's back. Heather moved to kiss her slowly on the lips.

"Now I'm awake," Naya mumbled. Heather smiled.

"Good." She gave her another peck, sat up, and swung her leg off Naya so she could sit on the edge of the bed, running her fingers through her tangled hair. "We need to get you out of here before my mom gets up."

"Shit, I forgot," Naya said, sitting up in bed, not bothering to hold the sheet over her chest. "What if she's already up?"

Heather shrugged nervously. "I'm crossing my fingers that she's not."

Naya slid to the edge of the bed and began pulling on her outfit from last night.

"You want some sweats or something instead? Clean underwear?" Heather asked, watching Naya dress.

"Nah, it's okay. I'm just gonna go home and take a quick shower anyway." Naya located her jeans underneath the sheets at the bottom of the bed, pulled them right-side-out, and stood up to thrust her legs into them quickly, grabbing Heather's shoulder for balance. Heather pulled on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt so she could walk Naya to the door.

"Ready?" she whispered, standing at her bedroom door, suddenly nervous. Then she looked Naya up and down and grinned, taking in her tousled hair, smeared eye makeup and rumpled club outfit.

"What? Shut up," Naya grinned, swatting at Heather. "Walk of shame, yeah, yeah. I know."

"It's not shameful when you're my girlfriend," Heather assured her, pulling her in for a kiss. "It's sexy."

Naya pursed her lips and lifted one corner of her mouth in a smile. Then she swatted Heather again and whispered, "Come on, I have to go."

"Okay. Wait, let me peek first." Heather pulled her door open enough to stick her head into the hallway, all the while thinking how ridiculous it was that she was twenty-four years old and sneaking around her own apartment. Naya stood frozen behind her, one hand resting on Heather's back, as they both listened.

"I don't hear anything. I think we're safe," Heather said, pulling the door open the rest of the way.

They tiptoed as lightly as they could down the hallway. Heather could feel her heart pounding so hard she was afraid her mom would hear it. They made it, though, all the way to the door, where Naya leaned into Heather for a quick hug.

"You good?" Naya whispered. "Your heart. God. I feel it."

"Yeah," Heather breathed. "I'm just gonna make some tea and calm… Oh! I just remembered! I have something for you! I was gonna give it to you last night, but I forgot." She debated for a split second before turning back toward her room.

"No – Heather –" Naya hissed.

"Just a sec!" Heather whispered, holding a finger up and darting nimbly back down the hallway on the balls of her feet. She found the little plastic bag on her dresser that held the teacup necklace, stuck her hand inside and fished around, fingers pushing aside the receipt.

She heard a door open, and for a split second she thought Naya had decided to leave anyway, but then suddenly her skin prickled with anxiety and she realized – it was her mom.

"Naya?" she heard her mother say, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

Heather froze, mouth open, eyes wide, and quietly removed her hand from the bag, forgetting the necklace. Her stomach felt like it had completely dissolved. "Fuck," she mouthed, cursing herself for not just letting Naya leave.

"I – uh – Heather and I – last night – well, our friend – " Heather heard Naya restart her explanation several times.

"Where's Heather?" Mrs. Morris snapped.

"She's just – uh – "

"I thought I made it clear that I don't want to see any of this while I'm here," Mrs. Morris said, sounding exasperated.

"Um – any - any of _what_?" Heather heard Naya say.

Heather snapped to life suddenly and hurried out of her bedroom. "Mom," she said loudly, marching down the hall. "Please. Don't talk to her like that." She hesitated as she approached, and then she walked over to Naya and stood next to her, facing her mother. She placed a hand on the small of Naya's back.

"Don't tell me what not to do," her mother said, indignant. "I made it perfectly clear that I think _this _is a bad idea." She gestured between Heather and Naya. "And I don't appreciate having it rubbed in my face."

"We're not 'rubbing' anything in your face," Heather said, sliding her hand around to grip Naya's waist. "She's just walking out the door, for god's sake. We ended up going out last night – I left you a note. We got home late, so Naya spent the night. It's _my_ apartment and it's up to me who stays the night. It's _not _a big deal."

"You think I don't know why she stayed the night?" Mrs. Morris hissed at Heather, as if Naya couldn't hear her. "_Look_ at what she's wearing. It's written all over you two. I can't believe you, Heather."

Heather stood up straighter. "Mom, seriously? It's _not _a big deal. If you have a problem with it, no one's forcing you to be here." She tried really hard to keep her voice calm, but it was shaking with nerves and anger, and she wanted to cry. She took a deep breath. "But I'd _appreciate_ it if you'd stay and try to be more understanding of us. Maybe then you'd see that _this_" – she gestured between herself and Naya with her free hand – "is not so bad. In fact, it's a pretty damn good thing we've got going on here. Okay?"

The muscles in Naya's back were tense under Heather's palm. Heather sensed Naya glance up at her out of the corner of her eye. She rubbed her hand in small circles on her back as they stood looking at Mrs. Morris in silence.

Finally, Mrs. Morris nodded once, curtly. "Fine," she said shortly, her voice quiet. "I will stay. Naya" – she turned her head to Naya but didn't meet her eyes – "I'm sorry for what I said." Then she turned and walked back to the guest bedroom, closing the door quietly behind her.

Heather and Naya both exhaled shakily. Naya opened the door of the apartment and pulled Heather out into the hall before turning to bury herself against Heather's chest. Neither said anything for a moment. Heather held Naya tightly, eyes squeezed shut.

"I'm sorry," Heather whispered.

"It's okay," Naya whispered into her chest, rubbing Heather's back. "It's okay."

Heather pulled back to look at Naya. "You okay? See you on set?" she whispered, knowing they could talk more openly there.

Naya gave her a small smile, and Heather felt herself relax a little. "Yeah," Naya whispered. She placed a hand against Heather's face, rubbing her thumb over her cheek. "See you there."

* * *

><p>Heather spent a good portion of the early morning introducing her mother to everyone she came across on set. There were already so many people milling about that having an extra body around didn't bother anyone, and they all seemed happy to meet Mrs. Morris.<p>

As she and her mom entered the McKinley auditorium, Heather saw Dianna approaching arm-in-arm with Naya. Heather smiled brightly at the sight of them and waved excitedly.

"Mom, this is Dianna – she's my partner in crime," Heather said, slipping her arm into Dianna's free one and smiling between Dianna and Mrs. Morris.

Dianna stuck her hand out as best she could with Heather hanging onto her elbow. "It's nice to meet you," she said, smiling.

"And you," Mrs. Morris said warmly. "Now, you play the pregnant cheerleader, right?"

The girls giggled and grinned at one another.

"That's me," Dianna said. "Not pregnant anymore, though. Are you enjoying your tour of set?"

Mrs. Morris nodded emphatically. "I am! It's such a production, isn't it? I can't believe how many people are involved!"

"Yeah, I'm lucky to work with some really great people. And I don't just mean _these_ _two_," Dianna said playfully, looking to her left and right at Naya and Heather.

"Oh, come on, Di," Heather said, shrugging one shoulder casually. "We know we're your favorites." She bumped her hip against Dianna's, and Naya laughed as she dodged Dianna's hip in turn.

"Wanna sit and watch the performance?" Naya asked them all, gesturing towards the rows of empty auditorium seats.

They had just begun to file into a row when they heard a shout coming from down the main aisle.

"Hey, Nay-Nay! Hemo!"

They turned to see Kevin struggling up the aisle as quickly as he could in his wheelchair, leaning forward with the exertion. Suddenly he stopped as if realizing something, put the breaks on the chair, and stood up to walk the rest of the way toward them.

"Hey, Kev, what up?" Heather asked as Naya snaked an arm around Kevin's vest-clad waist.

"Not much. Can I talk to you and Naya for a minute?" he asked, glancing at Naya. "Hi again, Mrs. Morris." He smiled politely.

"What's wrong, Bee? You look worried," Naya asked. She frowned at Kevin and tightened her arm around his waist. "Did someone steal all the good bagels again?"

Kevin smiled distractedly. "Nah, it's not that. Just need to talk to you two in private real quick."

"Sure, come on." Heather motioned for Kevin and Naya to follow her up the aisle.

They slid into a row of seats in the back of the auditorium. There was no one in the several rows in front of them, and everyone's attention was focused on the stage anyway, where Matt and the camera crew were setting up to shoot a scene.

"What's up?" Heather asked, plopping down in a chair next to Kevin. Her legs bobbed up and down nervously. Naya sat on Kevin's other side.

"_This _is what's up." Kevin reached into the pocket of his khakis and pulled out a glossy, torn-out magazine page folded in four. He began to unfold it carefully.

"What is that?" Naya asked nervously. She snatched it from his fingers before he had finished smoothing it out and stared down at it. Her hair swung forward, blocking her face from Heather's view.

"What is it?" Heather asked, leaning over Kevin to see.

Naya put a hand over her mouth and held the page out silently to Heather, eyes wide.

"It's you two," Kevin said, gesturing between them. "Someone saw you at the club last night."

Heather felt the blood drain from her face as she looked down at three photos of herself and Naya, dressed in their club outfits and looking very drunk. In two of them, they were dancing – Naya with her back pressed against Heather's front, her arm reaching up to hold the back of Heather's head. Heather could see her own hand drifting dangerously low against Naya's stomach.

"Shit," she hissed, as she looked at the third picture.

It was a little bit grainy, as though somebody had taken it from a cell phone. Heather stared at herself, pressed against Naya on the couch in the back room of the club, kissing her full on the mouth. Their eyes were closed, and Naya's hand was tangled in Heather's hair, as though she was holding them both up, keeping them both from falling into one another.

"How did they get these printed so quickly? It was like, less than twelve hours ago!" Naya whispered nervously, throwing her hands in the air.

Kevin shrugged. "They're on top of their shit, yo. I just wanted to let you guys know before you heard it from somebody else."

Heather looked up and met Naya's eyes. Naya looked grim, eyes wide and fingers still covering her mouth.

"Well," Heather said, not knowing what to say.

"Shit, Heather," Naya said. "_Shit. _I'm so sorry this happened. If I hadn't taken you out – "

"It's not your fault," Heather cut in, shaking her head. "I'm the one that kissed you in plain daylight. Well, not plain daylight, really, but you know…"

"I'll leave you two alone to figure this out," Kevin said. "But listen." He took their hands in both of his and looked back and forth between them. "You know I support you. We all do, okay? So whatever happens, whatever the haters might say… fuck 'em. Okay? Fuck 'em. Nobody's confirmed anything. This could all just blow over. As far as I know, none of the crew even knows about this yet. And this is just a shitty tabloid anyway."

"Yeah, but pictures don't lie…" Heather shakily pointed out, trying to laugh.

"Especially pictures like this," Naya agreed.

"I'm just saying, you're gonna be okay. No shit has gone down yet. Okay?"

Naya and Heather nodded. Kevin leaned in to press a kiss against Naya's hair, then Heather's, and then he stood up and began to file out of the aisle. Halfway down the row, he paused, turned around, and said, "Ellen and Portia, yo. Just remember Ellen and Portia."

"Ellen and Portia," Naya and Heather repeated, cracking smiles.

Kevin turned away and exited the aisle.

Naya immediately moved into the seat next to Heather and took her hand. Heather tensed and glanced around to see if anyone was watching, but then she squeezed Naya's hand tightly.

"You okay?" Naya asked gently.

"Just a little shaken up, that's all," Heather said.

"Bee's right, though. Nothing bad has happened yet. Nothing bad has to happen," Naya tried to reassure her.

Heather nodded, and then looked into Naya's eyes for reassurance.

"What's the worst that could happen, anyway?" Naya continued. "We're not gonna lose our jobs. We're not gonna be disowned. We've got people on our side."

"I know," Heather said, shrugging. "It's just like – our secret's out, you know? That's what it is. It's like a secret that got out before we were ready." She laced her fingers through Naya's and squeezed so tightly her knuckles turned white.

"I know, baby," Naya said, stroking her other hand down Heather's wrist and over the back of her hand.

"What are we gonna do if people ask us about it?" Heather asked her. "Tell them the truth?"

"I don't know. I guess we could play it by ear, gauge the situations as they come?" Naya suggested.

Heather nodded. "Okay. I'll tell you right away if anyone brings it up. But, Naya – if any paparazzi ask or anything, let's not tell them. Okay? They probably won't, but, god – let's not just hand it to them. Not – not yet, anyway."

"Deal," Naya said. She smiled at Heather, and they both inhaled deeply to calm themselves.

"Maybe you were right about the whole bathroom stall thing," Naya conceded. "Probably would've been more private."

Heather couldn't help it then – she giggled. Naya looked at her, surprised, and then she laughed, too. They held hands and laughed, and Heather watched as Naya threw her head back, nose scrunched and dimples showing.

When they'd finally stopped, Naya looked at Heather again, wiping her eyes. "Only us, Hemo," she said.

Heather snorted, and then suddenly they both moved at once, pulling each other in for a furious kiss, hands holding faces firm and close.

Naya broke the kiss. "I love you," she said fiercely, her nose an inch from Heather's.

"I love you, too," Heather said.

Realizing suddenly where they were, they pulled apart quickly, looking around.

"We'll figure it out," Heather said.

Naya nodded and stood, holding her hand out to Heather. "We'd better get back to the others."

* * *

><p>That afternoon they were finishing up some last-minute filming of the prom episode. One o'clock found Heather, Naya, and Mrs. Morris seated next to one another in tall folding chairs in the makeup trailer. Mrs. Morris was flipping through a magazine in her lap half-heartedly; she kept getting distracted, watching the makeup and hair artists as they moved around her daughter.<p>

"So what are you filming next?" she asked Heather curiously.

"Naya and I have a scene in Schue's office, and Chris and Darren have a scene in the hallway," Heather said, trying not to move her mouth too much as the artist applied her eye makeup. The last thing she needed was to get poked in the eye with a stick of eyeliner.

"Does this take place at the prom?"

"Yeah," Heather said. "Well, it's after Kurt gets named prom queen. We already filmed all the stuff in the gym a couple days ago. He runs out and has a scene with Blaine in the hallway."

"What _kind _of scene?" Mrs. Morris asked suspiciously.

"_Mom,_" Heather groaned. "They're not _making_ _out_ or anything. Geez. He's all upset because he just got named _prom queen._"

Out of the corner of her eye Heather could see Naya smirking in the chair next to her. Ever since this morning, Naya had kept quiet around Mrs. Morris. Heather hoped it wasn't out of embarrassment. Naya didn't have anything to be embarrassed about.

"So what are you two filming?" Mrs. Morris asked, going back to casually flipping through the magazine.

Heather almost told her that they were filming a make-out scene, but then she figured she shouldn't stir things up anymore—and especially not in front of the makeup artists.

"Well, Santana's all upset because she didn't get prom queen and her date, Karofsky, got king, so—"

"You mean Brittany's not her date?"

"No. Santana's dating Karofsky to hide the fact that she's gay. Karofsky's gay, too. _Mom, _you said you watch the show!"

"I get a little behind sometimes!" Mrs. Morris said. "So who's Brittany's date?"

"No one. She dances with everyone's dates. So really everyone's her date," Heather said, grinning.

"This is so confusing," Mrs. Morris mumbled, shaking her head.

"She wanted to go with Santana, but Santana was too scared to say yes. Santana's not out of the closet yet. Remember 'Songbird'? In the choir room? Me and Naya?" Heather prompted.

"Ah, yes, I remember that."

"And the failed Fondue for Two date?" Heather asked.

Mrs. Morris laughed. "I _love_ Fondue for Two," she said. "I hope there's more of that."

"Me, too," Heather and Naya said at the same time.

"So do we," the makeup artists said, gesturing between one another, and everyone laughed.

"So anyway," Heather said. "Naya and I have a scene today in Shue's office because Santana starts crying and storms out of the gym after she doesn't win prom queen. She's scared that nobody voted for her because they know she's gay. And I get to comfort her."

Mrs. Morris slapped her magazine down on her lap. "_Comfort _her?"

"_Mom! Please!_"

A few minutes later, after Heather and Naya had gotten the a-okay from the makeup artists, they hurried to the costume trailer to pick up their prom dresses and then stood outside in the lot, debating where to change.

"My mom's waiting in my trailer," Heather offered.

"Mine, then," Naya said, and they clasped hands and hurried to Naya's trailer, giggling nervously as if they were doing something sneaky.

Inside the trailer, Heather shoved her sweatpants down her hips and stepped out of them. "I keep expecting someone to jump out at us with a camera," she said. "Will you help me with this?" She plucked at her t-shirt.

Naya finished unbuttoning her own shirt and moved to help Heather. "No one's going to jump out at us," she said, carefully pulling Heather's shirt up and over her head, holding her hair so it wouldn't get messed up.

Heather sighed. "Really?"

Naya dropped Heather's shirt on the couch and rested her hands on Heather's rib cage, skin soft and thin under her fingers. She reached up to peck Heather on the lips. "_Really_ really," she whispered. "And if they do, I'mma go all Lima Heights on their sorry asses."

Heather smiled and pulled Naya closer for a slow kiss, savoring the warmth of Naya's belly and breasts against hers. "My hero," she said playfully against Naya's lips.

Naya smiled. "No," she said between kisses. "You're _my _hero."

Heather laughed softly through her nose and slid her hands up to toy gently with the clasp of Naya's bra. Naya whimpered into her mouth, and Heather snapped the clasp open with one hand. She slid the other up to cup Naya's breast without bothering to pull the bra off her shoulders, rubbing her thumb gently over her nipple.

Naya whimpered again. "Heather," she panted.

Heather groaned. She stilled her hand on Naya's breast and pulled away from the kiss a little, panting against Naya's lips. "We don't have time," she said.

"Fuck our tight schedule," Naya said, and Heather held back a laugh. Naya let go of Heather to reach for her red prom dress.

Heather helped her pull the flower-covered strap over her left shoulder and zipped her up in the back before pressing a kiss to her bare shoulder. "You look beautiful," she said. "Don't forget you're supposed to be getting ready to whip up some tears."

Naya grabbed Heather's lime green dress and held it up for her to step into. "Yeah, well," she said, "I'm already practically in tears over the cock-blocking that just went down here."

"Oh, poor baby," Heather cooed, touching Naya's face as she stepped into her dress.

Naya moved around to zip Heather up the side. "I can't help it," she said, kneeling to pull out the ruffles at the bottom of Heather's dress. "You're just…" She slid her hands up Heather's legs, over her calves, up the backs of her thighs. "So…" Heather put her hands on Naya's shoulders to steady herself. "Fuckable," Naya whispered, grabbing Heather's ass.

"God, just come here," Heather pulled Naya up by the arms and Naya immediately backed her up against the nearest wall, pinning her with one hand on her waist. She pushed her tongue into Heather's mouth and reached down to lift one of Heather's legs.

Heather wrapped her leg around Naya's waist and frantically pulled at the ruffles on her own dress, yanking them up to her hips so Naya could fit a hand between them.

"Don't touch the hair," Naya warned as Heather gripped the back of her neck. She slid her hand into Heather's panties and rubbed a few circles around her clit, pulling a moan from Heather.

Heather felt like she was about to come already. She tightened her leg around Naya's waist, pulled her closer and wrapped her arms around her shoulders, clinging to her. Naya sucked gently on her neck.

"Inside," Heather whispered. "And no hickeys!"

Naya slid two fingers to her center and pushed them inside gently. Heather heard Naya moan with the feel of it.

"Harder," Heather panted. "Naya, _harder."_

"Oh, god," Naya groaned against Heather's neck, thrusting into her, trapped against Heather's body by the leg wrapped around her waist. "Are you close?" she panted into Heather's skin.

Heather didn't answer, just canted her hips forward into Naya's fingers a few more times and then leaned her head back, arching away from the wall and into Naya's body as she came.

When she came down, she slumped against the wall, fighting the urge to let her body slide down to the floor. "God," she groaned, eyes closed. "That was good."

She opened her eyes to see Naya pulling up the satiny red fabric of her own dress. She put a palm against the wall by Heather's head and leaned into it as she slid her other hand into her own panties and groaned in relief.

"Uh-uh," Heather said, suddenly able to move. She grabbed Naya's wrist and pulled her over to the chair beside them. She sat, and Naya straddled her, both of them pushing Naya's dress all the way up to her waist so it wouldn't rip.

"Fuck me," Naya moaned breathily, draping her arms over Heather's shoulders.

Heather wasted no time in sliding her hand into the wetness in Naya's panties and slipping two fingers up into her. Naya moaned and rocked against Heather's hand, quickly gathering speed. Heather kept one hand firmly on the small of her back, and soon Naya arched into her orgasm.

"That was fast," Heather said when Naya had come down. She slipped her fingers gently from Naya.

Naya kissed her breathlessly. "I told you we didn't have much time." She climbed shakily from Heather's lap, pushing her dress back down her legs. "Come on, we've gotta get to set. How do I look?"

"Surprisingly normal," Heather said. "Hair's still intact. No hickeys?"

"Don't think so. Don't forget your little hat thing."

They quickly inspected one another and smoothed out their dresses and any stray fly-away hairs.

"Damn, that was risky," Naya said as they exited her trailer.

"Yeah, but super exciting," Heather answered, slipping her arm through Naya's as they hurried across the lot. "Are we gonna be late? We need to stop and get my mom."

"We're pretty much on time," Naya said. "It's okay."

They knocked on the door of Heather's trailer, and Mrs. Morris opened it quickly.

"Hi, we've gotta go, you ready?" Heather asked, gesturing for her mom to hurry.

"All ready!" she said. "You two look lovely!"

"Thanks," Heather said, and Naya smiled. "Let's do this thing."


End file.
